Forest Health and Biosecurity Systems and Protocols

Lead researchers: Professor Jeff Connor and Dr Courtney Regan 

Forest health involves the management of existing pests and diseases while biosecurity concentrates on the exclusion and detection of exotic pests and diseases. This project includes designing and implementing a cooperative forest health and biosecurity surveillance system and developing calibrated pest spread and potential economic impact models. Benefits of the project outputs include:

• Higher productivity and better risk management by the forest industry for increased economic value and employment for SA.
• Improved biosecurity outcomes for all crops in SA through better understanding of priority pest and point of entry risks.
• Regional level reporting of plantation forestry biosecurity activities for SA State and Australian Government requirements.
• Single point of contact for forest industry.
• Cost sharing with the forest industry on biosecurity costs.

Our team:  Jeff Connor, Courtney Regan, Jim O'Hehir, Dianne Patzel, Braden Jenkin (Sylva Systems Pty Ltd), David Smith (Agriculture Victoria), John Weiss (Agriculture Victoria), Kathryn Sheffield (Agriculture Victoria), Anna Weeks (Agriculture Victoria), Rudi Hoffman (Agriculture Victoria)