Thirteen million trees to be replanted after pine plantation wiped out in Walwa-Mt Lawson fire

The fire threat in Victoria's Upper Murray has eased, but the region's famously green, undulating hills still bear the black scars of a devastating bushfire.

The Walwa-Mt Lawson State Park fire started in early January, spreading through 120,000 hectares of land before it was contained just over a month later.

It was one of several major fires that burned in Victoria during catastrophic conditions.

"It's surprising how much it's demolished and how quickly it did it," Koetong wool producer Meaghan Williams said.

Fourteen homes were lost, farms were razed and 11,000 hectares of pine plantation were wiped out.

Homes and farms razed

Ms Williams's home of 12 years was among those destroyed by the blaze.

"Every summer we clean up and know fires are possible, but we haven't had fire in Koetong since 1951," she said.

Whole plantation burnt in two fires

Down the road, the Shelley pine plantation, owned by Melbourne-based HVP Plantations, is a forest of black trees.

Corporate fire and silviculture manager Richard Mailer said the fire burnt 80 per cent of the 13,500-hectare plantation.

"That [was] 10,500 hectares of plantations that varied from one year old to 37 years old," he said.

"We also lost some specialised forest harvesting equipment and our shelling works centre."

Mr Mailer said the other 20 per cent of the plantation was burnt in the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires.

Recovery to take decades

Plantation staff have been busy harvesting the burnt trees.

"We must salvage what we can very quickly, because timber does degrade quite quickly after fires," Mr Mailer said.

HVP grows trees on a 25-year rotation and the first harvest begins when the trees are at least 10 years old.

"Unfortunately over half of the burnt trees were less than 10 years old and that timber is basically lost," Mr Mailer said.

"[Plantations] usually have a second thinning operation around about 17 or 18 years of age and then we'll clear-fell the site at 25 years of age."

Recovery efforts also include land rehabilitation, rebuilding, and clearing hundreds of kilometres of roads that are essential for transportation.

The whole plantation will then be replanted, which will take about five years to complete.

"We will start the re-establishment this winter."

"Our nursery has already put in an extra million [seeds] to start that replant project."

Timber supply

Much of the softwood grown in Shelley feeds timber mills in north-east Victoria and southern New South Wales.

It's another big hit to the industry after the Black Summer bushfires destroyed about a third of the region's pine plantations.

At the time, the industry rallied and managed to salvage nearly half of the burnt timber.

Softwoods Working Group chief executive Carlie Porteous said they were better prepared after the Black Summer bushfires.

"The fires in 2019-2020 certainly saw the industry upgrade their equipment to deal with burnt wood, but also managing the carbon and local impacts," she said.

Mr Mailer said they were still working out what impact the January fire would have on timber supply.

"It's a pretty challenging time also with the slowdown in building activity," he said.

"We're currently going through the process trying to work out what this means for the longer term with supply."

Rebuild plans

Ms Williams didn't just lose her home; she also lost sheds and her shop selling hand-dyed wool.

Despite her losses, she feels lucky her animals were spared.

"We've got six horses, four ponies, nearly 100 sheep, and we took about 60 pregnant alpacas out and left about 10 here," Ms Williams said.

"They have been fine."

Ms Williams and her partner plan to rebuild on their property in Koetong.

"But we will rebuild about a good 100 metres out into the middle of a paddock, so we've got a lot more room around us to defend," she said.

"We're hoping that within that 15 months we can get everything rebuilt enough for us to move back out here."