Site preparation and burning
You may notice heavy machinery on-site preparing and cultivating the ground for planting, and there may be some smoke during controlled harvesting residue burns
Plantation re-establishment Macquarie Woods
The softwood timber plantations near the Macquarie Woods picnic and camping area are being replanted with pine seedlings to regrow the plantations for the future. Re-establishment will commence in December 2023 and take up to 12 months.
What to expect
The pine plantations near Macquarie Woods were harvested for timber products a couple of years ago. Replanting was delayed due to wet weather, but is scheduled to take place from late 2023 and through 2024 if conditions are favourable.
Weed control
Weed control is carried out two or three times at the beginning of the 30-40 year plantation cycle to allow the new seedlings to become established
Planting
The entire plantation area will be replanted with pine seedlings. A planting crew will hand plant the seedlings during the winter months
Access to Macquarie Woods
The Macquarie Woods recreation area will remain open throughout the work, although visitors may notice activities in the adjoining plantation area at different times during the site preparation and re-establishment program.
Please ensure that you pay attention to any warning signage in the forest, do not enter any active worksites, and follow instructions from Forestry Corporation staff in the forest.
More about softwood plantations
Forestry Corporation manages approximately 225,000 hectares of softwood timber plantations throughout NSW. These plantations are contiually harvested and replanted to grow renewable timber and regrow in perpetuity. Timber is the most renewable building product available and timber from State forest plantations is certified sustainable. Find out more about forestry and timber.