Day 056 - 28 Nov 94 - Page 61


     
     1        just as appropriate as a calculation based on both, would
     2        it not, because the clearfelling would not apply anyway?
     3        What I am saying is the acreage or square mileage or
     4        whatever of forest that would be needed to supply X amount
     5        of tonnes of thinned wood would be an important
     6        calculation ----
     7        A.  Yes.
     8
     9   Q.   --- in itself?
    10        A.  If one were to say that there is no mature forest in a
    11        given area supplying a mill, then the requirement would be
    12        thinnings and a larger area of forest would be needed to
    13        give you that total tonnage.  What we are giving here is an
    14        example which is actually realistic because this what the
    15        Forest Enterprise, our state owned forest, is supplying to
    16        Iggesund and a lot of that forest was planted prewar, so
    17        that they do have a substantial resource from which to
    18        supply.
    19
    20        Now that is what makes it reasonably comparable to other
    21        areas in Europe where they would also have prewar
    22        plantation.  Plantation is an historic forestry management
    23        programme, and it has been going on in most countries for
    24        well over 100 years.
    25
    26   Q.   Say in England a lot of the production would be based on
    27        post-Second World War plantations, presumably mainly
    28        coniferous plantations?
    29        A.  Yes, except you can take areas which are not too far
    30        away from Workington, for example, like the Kilder forest
    31        which has a longer history than a postwar history.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you are suggesting that McDonald's
    34        actually use packaging which has come from pulp which has
    35        come exclusively, or almost exclusively, from thinnings,
    36        I think you ought to put it because the question you asked
    37        follows logically; whether it is based on any reality is
    38        important.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  Yes. I would just ask the question that it would be
    41        reasonable to assume that some mills supplying McDonald's,
    42        or supplying McDonald's suppliers, are using prodominantly
    43        thinned wood, wood from thinnings?
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What do you say about that?
    46        A.  One would need actually to do a check of individual
    47        mills to see how that is true, because what you have to
    48        remember is that when a forest is actually felled, and
    49        I mean clearfelled, the top end of the trees that are
    50        felled will also go to pulp direct, so that in effect what 
    51        goes to the sawmill are those trees of sufficient diameter 
    52        to be worth taking to a sawmill.  So that practically in no 
    53        case would it be reasonable to the say that everything came
    54        from forest thinnings or that everything came from
    55        clearfelled.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  But for mills that are based in areas where there
    58        is a great amount of new plantations, they would be getting
    59        quite a substantial amount of their pulp from thinnings
    60        which would be completely unsuitable for sawmills?

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