OneFortyOne Plantations comes of age

Leading Australian forestry company, OneFortyOne plantations today celebrated its fifth year operating in Mt Gambier.

Speaking at an event to mark the anniversary of OneFortyOne’s acquisition of its forest estate lease five years ago, OneFortyOne’s CEO, Ms Linda Sewell said: “We are marking our fifth anniversary as the custodian of the forest estate to acknowledge how much progress has been made since the signing of our agreement with the South Australian Government, and to thank the community for its ongoing support”.
“In five short years we have gained national and international accreditation for sustainable management of our forests; grown to a team of 65 staff, drawn from across the Green Triangle and a further 500 contractors who support our silvicultural, transport and harvesting operations”.

“I’m incredibly proud of the work our teams undertake every day to ensure timber supply to every mill and processor across the region – we are the only forest grower to do this,” Ms Sewell said.
Ms Sewell said the forestry industry in Mt Gambier continued to go from strength to strength with Australian housing and construction driving demand for sawlog and timber products. This has been a key factor in the success of OFO.

Ms Sewell said, “The last five years have been good for the entire forestry industry and the community”.

“A combination of strong housing demand and investments made by our customers following the Government’s South East Forestry Partnerships Program (SEFPP) support have meant we’ve been able to increase domestic fibre supply by around 45%”.

“This is a great outcome for our industry, the local economy and our business particularly in Mt Gambier,” Ms Sewell said.

This year OFO’s harvesting teams will spend more than 100 thousand hours in the forest, and its silvicultural teams have hand planted more than 5 million trees as part of its commitment to sustainable operations.

Since OFO acquired the forest in 2012, the business has invested more than $1 million in partnering with Mt Gambier and Limestone Coast community initiatives. These include the Stand like Stone Foundation, Nature Glenelg Trust and more recently Mt Gambier Rotary in a 3 year partnership to support the Blue Lake Fun Run.

Today’s event will be attended by representatives of these Community Groups along with around 100 of OFO’s customers, contractors, community stakeholders and staff.