Conservation planner wins first award for excellence in sustainable forestry

3 November 2015 News

The inaugural Richard Stanton Memorial Trophy for Excellence in Forestry Management has been awarded to Dr. Marie Yee, a senior conservation planner at Forestry Tasmania.

Anne Ruston, Assistant Minister for Agriculture, presented Dr. Yee with her trophy and award certificate at an AFS awards dinner in Melbourne on 22 October. Kate Carnell AO, chair of Australian Forestry Standard Ltd, and Sonia, the wife of the late Richard Stanton, also joined the presentation ceremony.

The event, organized by Australian Forestry Standard Ltd (AFS), attracted more than 60 guests from six states, the ACT and New Zealand representing all sectors of the industry. The trophy and award recognize the life of a man who was devoted to the forest industry in Australia and internationally.

Mr. Stanton was CEO of Australian Forestry Standard Ltd when he was killed in a tragic bicycle accident in Canberra earlier this year. He was 49. He had previously held a number of key roles in the Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P); Australian Paper Industry Council; Plantation Timber Association of Australia; National Association of Forest Industries; and State Forests NSW.

The general manager, forest management, Forestry Tasmania, Suzette Weeding, said she was very proud that Marie Yee had been recognized in her leading role in the development of Forestry Tasmania's Landscape Context Planning System.

"The system enables a systematic planning and management approach which incorporates the principles of landscape ecology into forest management," Ms. Weeding said.

AFS CEO Simon Dorries said Dr. Yee's win recognized the work of young people in taking responsibility for carrying forward the forest industry's message of sustainability and the value of forest certification.

Dr. Yee holds a Bachelor of Science (geographical ecology) from the University of New South Wales; a Bachelor of Science (ecology) with Honours Class 1 from the University of New England (NSW); and a PhD from the University of Tasmania.

Her project was 'the ecology and biodiversity of saproxylic beetles in decomposing Eucalyptus obliqua logs in the wet sclerophyll forests of southern Tasmania. Large and small logs were compared in the project.

The Landscape Context Planning System provides a significant and valuable contribution to sustainability that could be readily applied to many other forest management agencies in Australia and further afield. It provides an example of innovation, improvement and excellence in forest management, supporting Forestry Tasmania's certification to AS4708, the Australian Standard for Sustainable Forest Management.