Jamax Forest Solutions

09/06/2026

Can Wood Really Help Sell More Beer?

Recently, Wood Central published a fascinating story about a Queensland pub that renovated its interior, replacing stark and modern surfaces with natural timber, and something unexpected happened. Customers didn’t just comment on how much better the hotel looked. They stayed longer, relaxed more easily and, yes, the tills showed a noticeable lift in bar sales.

In Queensland, Kennedy’s Timbers was approached to provide the timber, which founder and CEO Michael Kennedy said had more than just an aesthetic impact. “I always say, if you want to sell beer, put timber in your pub", he enthused.

The concept of changing the building material to improve business sounds almost too simple. But this isn’t a one-off anecdote. Around the world, researchers have been studying how natural materials, especially wood, affect human behaviour. And the results suggest that timber does more than look good, it changes how people feel.

Austrian and Japanese studies into biophilic design have shown that wood-lined rooms reduce stress responses, stabilise heart rates, and improve people’s perceptions of comfort and warmth. In pubs, hospitality spaces and social venues, this translates into customers who feel more at ease, are more inclined to sit and talk, and, crucially for the owner, stay longer.

Time spent on premises is one of the strongest predictors of beverage sales. So it is hardly surprising that pubs which swap cold modern interiors for natural materials are reporting modest but noticeable boosts in bar turnover.

Timber engages the senses in a way steel, concrete and glass never can. It absorbs sound, softens harsh lighting and introduces visual texture. People may not consciously analyse it, but when they walk into a room lined with wood, it feels more grounded, authentic and human.

Some designers now deliberately use timber to encourage social interaction, make larger venues feel more intimate and create the sense of belonging that keeps customers coming back.

Traditional Australian pubs of the post-war era were dominated by heavy hardwood bars, timber panelling, solid stools and scuffed floors. Patrons might not have articulated it at the time, but the warm material helped define the unmistakable atmosphere of an Aussie bar.

In recent decades, modern renovations often stripped that warmth out, replacing it with clinical surfaces better suited to an airport lounge than a Friday knock-off.

The Wood Central story simply highlights what is known scientifically – we feel better in spaces made from natural materials.

And when people feel better, they stay longer, talk more…and the beer flows a little faster.

Thank God Australia once trained professional foresters who could sustainably supply the hardwood timbers needed to create those warm, ambient spaces. Sadly, with the growing political fixation on locking up our native forests, the opportunity to keep doing that is being lost.

The story is at this link - https://woodcentral.com.au/want-to-sell-more-beer-aussie.../

09/06/2026

“Decades of selective harvesting on the New South Wales North Coast have left koala numbers no lower than in neighbouring unlogged forest, retired forest scientist John Raison has told ABC South East NSW Breakfast presenter Eddie Williams. Raison, a science consultant at the Mullion Group and former chief research scientist with the CSIRO, said the evidence weakens the case for locking up working forests to save the marsupial.”

A retired CSIRO scientist says North Coast surveys show no koala decline from logging, weakening the case for the Great Koala National Park.

09/06/2026

Hey future Timber Systems Designers... want a career that build the future? Construction... Environment... Sustainable housing... We've got you covered. Find out more, watch the video, scan the code!

Hey future Timber Systems Designers... want a career that build the...

09/06/2026

“Australian timber construction is pushing the global frontier”.

David Rowlinson and Kylan Low toured the new Sydney Fish Market and Barangaroo's Cutaway, opening this year's Australian Timber Design Awards to projects of every scale.

09/06/2026

"At the heart of this work is the return of Cultural Fire back to the landscape.

"Through carefully planned Cultural Burns led by Koorin and Durramah, the team aims to restore forest structure, encourage the regeneration of key feed trees and reduce the risk of high-intensity bushfires across koala habitat.

"While call rates recorded through Song Meter acoustic monitoring were low, suggesting a low-density population, the findings are significant. They confirm the continued presence of koalas in a landscape where they were previously thought to be rare and reinforce the need for ongoing, culturally informed monitoring to better understand population distribution and habitat use."

On the far South Coast of New South Wales, Gadhu Bagan, the Southern-Yuin Firesticks team, is celebrating the persistent presence of Guraban (koala) across multiple locations in Wadbilliga National Park, following on-Country survey and monitoring work undertaken in partnership with the NSW Departmen...

09/06/2026

Gateway reviews by Assoc Prof Brack, Forestry expert from the Australian National University, confirm Human Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects deliver genuine abatement.

To generate ACCUs, landholders must meet method-specific requirements under the ACCU Scheme, including project registration, risk management, carbon measurement, record keeping, and reporting. Independent audits and gateway reviews verify abatement outcomes, reinforcing the Scheme’s integrity.

Learn more about the requirements and risks involved with registering an ACCU Scheme project https://cer.gov.au/schemes/australian-carbon-credit-unit-scheme/managing-risk-and-integrity-accu-scheme

https://theconversation.com/are-australias-carbon-farming-schemes-just-hot-air-hardly-forests-are-regrowing-almost-everywhere-266251

https://youtu.be/7Fpy5YFUb3s?si=CszgusRzXy9bdLuw

Gateway reviews by Assoc Prof Brack, Forestry expert from the Austr...

08/06/2026

In recent years, some projects have come under fire. Critics, like whistleblower Andrew Macintosh, have suggested there’s not enough regeneration or that regeneration would have happened anyway. But independent assessment of these claims suggest these concerns are overblown.

An independent reviewer of nearly 100 projects says forests are regrowing on 94 per cent of Australia's carbon farming land.

08/06/2026

Remembering that feral pests and weeds are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity......"The NSW pig program is the textbook example of how not to do feral animal control," he said.

"That's because it's ad hoc, it's thinly spread across the landscape, it's short-term funding cycles. There's no real strategy behind it.

"All of that together means we really have been failing."

The removal of 85 per cent of feral pigs in any area is needed to ensure numbers are kept down, according to the Invasive Species Council."

After an extended dry spell, farmers across inland NSW are reporting significant damage to their paddocks by feral pigs seeking food.

05/06/2026

In this month's Forestry blog, I take a close look at one of Australia’s most politically charged conservation debates and ask a simple but critical question. Are we focusing on the real cause of decline, or the most convenient one?

The swift parrot has become a powerful symbol in campaigns against native forest harvesting. The story is familiar — logging destroys habitat, therefore logging must be the primary driver of decline. It’s a compelling narrative, but when you step beyond the slogans and examine scientific evidence, the picture becomes far more complex and far less comfortable.

Drawing on a recent peer-reviewed paper and supporting material, I explore the evidence for the competing explanations of the species’ decline. What emerges is a striking conclusion. The strongest empirical evidence points not to habitat loss from contemporary forestry, but to predation from introduced sugar gliders as the dominant factor driving population collapse.

This raises an uncomfortable truth. If predation is the primary cause, then conservation efforts focused almost exclusively on opposing logging miss the mark. Protecting habitat alone, no matter how well-intentioned, will not save the species if the main driver of decline remains unchecked.

It also exposes a broader issue in conservation thinking and one I’ve written about before. Reserving forests and leaving them to benign neglect is no guarantee of protecting vulnerable species. The swift parrot joins a growing list of examples where the reality on the ground does not match the narrative.

This is not an argument against conservation or preservation. It is an argument for getting the diagnosis right, because without that, even the best efforts will fail.

If we are serious about saving species near extinction like the swift parrot, we need to move beyond assumptions and ideology and return to the first principles of identifying the primary cause of decline and targeting it directly.

Because in the end, ideology will not save the swift parrot.

Thank you to Simon Grove for providing comments on an earlier draft.

You can read more at this link - https://www.robertonfray.com/2026/06/05/the-swift-parrot-and-the-convenient-scapegoat/