Research: Marsupials boost forest industry

A small native marsupial holds the key to regeneration and expansion of the highly prized Western Australian sandalwood industry.

In August, Forestry Minister Kim Chance visited an ecological field research site in Western Australia's Dryandra Woodland north of Narrogin where the relationship between the Woylie and sandalwood plantations is being studied by researchers in a joint initiative of Murdoch University and the Forest Products Commission.

"This important research will allow us to gain a better understanding of the role native fauna play in the recruitment and dispersal of sandalwood and other rangeland species," Mr Chance said.

The Dryandra Woodland site was chosen because of the correlation between increasing numbers of Woylies and sandalwood seedlings appearing following a successful fox baiting program by the Department of Conservation and Land Management.

"Preliminary evidence suggests that woylies are collecting, dispersing and burying sandalwood seed causing this substantial increase in natural sandalwood regeneration," he said.

"In the rangelands, predation by foxes and cats is thought to have contributed in the decline in natural sandalwood regeneration. The results from this research will provide the basis for designing a silvicultural system that mimics natural processes.

"Sandalwood occurs over an estimated area of 161 million hectares of which an area the size of England and France combined is reserved.

"The industry is expected to provide about $60 million of local and export income over the next five years and provides direct employment for about 200 people mainly in rural and remote areas.

"The Western Australian sandalwood industry is totally reliant on the harvest of natural stands for the next 15 to 25 years and this can then be complemented by sandalwood plantations," he said.

The Forest Products Commission is establishing small-scale sandalwood plantations on farms being planted with maritime pine in the medium rainfall area of the mid-west. Along with its sandalwood value other values include landcare, salinity, water control, biodiversity and greenhouse.

The Commission is expected to spend about $3 million over the next five years in funding related research, regeneration and ecologically sustainable management silviculture associated with sandalwood in the rangelands.