The Murray Region Forestry Hub (MRFH) has appointed Carlie Porteous as its new Hub Manager.
Chair of MRFH and Softwoods Working Group, Peter Crowe OAM, said Ms Porteous brings more than 12 years of experience in the forest and wood products industry to her new role.
“Carlie has been involved in most aspects of the value chain and brings a wealth of experience to her new position,” he said.
“Her introduction to the timber industry was through Visy’s fibre supply certification, where she developed and successfully implemented Visy’s full supply chain Forest Stewardship Council and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme, which is still the largest certificate in the Australasia region.
“She has gone on to represent the needs of forest contracting businesses as general manager of the Australian Forest Contractors Association, growing the business profile, engagement, and numbers considerably since her commencement.
“Carlie also has nearly 10 years of experience in the waste transport industry in multiple roles including contract management, operations, and project implementation.
“She continues to prove her investment to the industry as a voluntary member of the Board for FSC Australia and New Zealand as well as a Trustee for the Gottstein Trust.”
Mr Crowe said Ms Porteous would commence in the new role in July and, together with her family, will move from Queensland to Albury later in the year.
Eleven regional forestry hubs were created under the National Forest Industries Plan to identify the constraints limiting forestry and timber industry growth.
The MRFH takes in about 3.5 million hectares east of the Hume Freeway, west of the Great Dividing Range, south of Gundagai, and includes plantations in north-east Victoria down to Lake Eildon.
Key forestry towns in the NSW part of the hub are Tumut, Batlow, Tumbarumba, Gundagai and Adelong, while in Victoria the hub centres around Corryong, Tallangatta, Myrtleford and Wangaratta.
This area contains around 170,000 hectares of softwood plantations (public and private). The Murray Region is home to one of the largest softwood-plantation forestry industries in Australia.
Mr Crowe thanked the outgoing executive officer, Phil Clements, for his dedicated and valuable input into establishing the MRFH.
“Phil has a vast knowledge of the timber industry in the region, and he will continue in a non-executive role to contribute to the development of the MRFH,” he said.