In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the industry, Mr Ed Tuleja said the glut on the woodchip market was forcing operators to use the finest-quality chips because lesser-quality trees were unsaleable.
Born in New Jersey, and a builder for 30 years, Mr Tulela said he had head stories of timbers such as the rare myrtle, sassafras and king billy being bulldozed into a pile and burned In the name of efficiency when they could not be sold.
"As a person who works with wood, it breaks your heart," he said yesterday from his home in Meander, a town 15 kilometres west of Tasmania's Great Western Tiers. "The best wood seems to be going out and die quality of wood has declined."
In his submission he wrote that there was "a mountain of woodchips"
on the wharf at Burnie, together with thousands of round logs to be shipped
out to somewhere in Asia "If the Asians are so keen on our wood products,why
are we letting them go so cheap?" he asked. But the Forest
Industries Association of Tasmania argued in its submission that the woodchip
market was important for sawmilling economics.