❓ The Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries explains the benefits of the Infinitree program for salinity management, particularly through groundwater control using pine plantations, referencing the West Midland area and the Wesbeam agreement.
AnsweredQoN 1669Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
Will the minister explain the likely benefits to salinity management from the Forest Products Commission Infinitree program? Hon KIM CHANCE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank Hon Frank Hough for the opportunity to very briefly expand on some of the benefits that derive from salinity and ground water management from the Infinitree program. Members will be aware of the contribution that Infinitree has made potentially available to salinity management and, in particular, salinity management through ground water management. If I may just illustrate how dynamic ground water problems are in certain areas, in the West Midland area we have been able to observe rises in ground water in some areas in the past decade of up to - I am sorry it is in the old measurement - 15 feet, which is just a little under five metres. That is a very significant rise. Water is certainly more dynamic in that environment than in a typical wheatbelt environment, because of the nature of the soil type. However, in areas like that we are seeing a rapid encroachment of freshwater intrusion through the surface, which very rapidly turns saline because of the high evaporation rates in those areas. What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
Hon KIM CHANCE replied : I thank Hon Frank Hough for the opportunity to very briefly expand on some of the benefits that derive from salinity and ground water management from the Infinitree program. Members will be aware of the contribution that Infinitree has made potentially available to salinity management and, in particular, salinity management through ground water management. If I may just illustrate how dynamic ground water problems are in certain areas, in the West Midland area we have been able to observe rises in ground water in some areas in the past decade of up to - I am sorry it is in the old measurement - 15 feet, which is just a little under five metres. That is a very significant rise. Water is certainly more dynamic in that environment than in a typical wheatbelt environment, because of the nature of the soil type. However, in areas like that we are seeing a rapid encroachment of freshwater intrusion through the surface, which very rapidly turns saline because of the high evaporation rates in those areas. What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
I thank Hon Frank Hough for the opportunity to very briefly expand on some of the benefits that derive from salinity and ground water management from the Infinitree program. Members will be aware of the contribution that Infinitree has made potentially available to salinity management and, in particular, salinity management through ground water management. If I may just illustrate how dynamic ground water problems are in certain areas, in the West Midland area we have been able to observe rises in ground water in some areas in the past decade of up to - I am sorry it is in the old measurement - 15 feet, which is just a little under five metres. That is a very significant rise. Water is certainly more dynamic in that environment than in a typical wheatbelt environment, because of the nature of the soil type. However, in areas like that we are seeing a rapid encroachment of freshwater intrusion through the surface, which very rapidly turns saline because of the high evaporation rates in those areas. What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
Hon KIM CHANCE replied : I thank Hon Frank Hough for the opportunity to very briefly expand on some of the benefits that derive from salinity and ground water management from the Infinitree program. Members will be aware of the contribution that Infinitree has made potentially available to salinity management and, in particular, salinity management through ground water management. If I may just illustrate how dynamic ground water problems are in certain areas, in the West Midland area we have been able to observe rises in ground water in some areas in the past decade of up to - I am sorry it is in the old measurement - 15 feet, which is just a little under five metres. That is a very significant rise. Water is certainly more dynamic in that environment than in a typical wheatbelt environment, because of the nature of the soil type. However, in areas like that we are seeing a rapid encroachment of freshwater intrusion through the surface, which very rapidly turns saline because of the high evaporation rates in those areas. What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
I thank Hon Frank Hough for the opportunity to very briefly expand on some of the benefits that derive from salinity and ground water management from the Infinitree program. Members will be aware of the contribution that Infinitree has made potentially available to salinity management and, in particular, salinity management through ground water management. If I may just illustrate how dynamic ground water problems are in certain areas, in the West Midland area we have been able to observe rises in ground water in some areas in the past decade of up to - I am sorry it is in the old measurement - 15 feet, which is just a little under five metres. That is a very significant rise. Water is certainly more dynamic in that environment than in a typical wheatbelt environment, because of the nature of the soil type. However, in areas like that we are seeing a rapid encroachment of freshwater intrusion through the surface, which very rapidly turns saline because of the high evaporation rates in those areas. What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
What has been demonstrated already, particularly by the West Koojan-Gillingarra Land Conservation District Committee’s work with the Forest Products Commission and earlier with the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is that those ground water levels can be controlled very effectively by pine plantations, in particular of Pinus pinaster . Pinus pinaster forms a principal component of Infinitree’s program for the West Midland area. Earlier this year, the House passed the Wood Processing (Wesbeam) Agreement Act, which provides for two separate 25-year tranches of supply from the northern pine plantation to Wesbeam’s plant at Neerabup. Much of the second tranche will come from Pinus pinaster plantations in that area. However, the importance that pine plantations have, and the Infinitree project through the extension of pine plantations in particular, is illustrated by the example I gave in West Midland. In other areas, Infinitree is concentrating on new eucalypt sawlog programs that, in the main, are agroforestry projects, although they can be pine plantation as well. The focus is on the provision of future eucalypt sawlog plantations involving species such as Eucalyptus saligna and maculata .
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.