Armed with several academic qualifications in forestry and horticulture production and decades of experience Kaara Shaw and Gary Clarke are well qualified to deliver on their company promise of best practice land management, and last year set up a business to meet the growing demand for their services.
But with little business know-how, the couple turned to Business Mentoring Noosa for some sound knowledge which is leading them on a positive future path.
Their company, Forest Land Management (FLM) is headquartered in the Beenam Valley, 30 minutes west of Tewantin, and its purpose is to work with private and corporate landholders to provide forest and land management services and advice in the South East Queensland area.
The services consist of hardwood plantation establishment, maintenance and harvesting of same, forest and paddock rehabilitation, including revegetation and weed management services, forest land planning, technical reporting, advice, networking and marketing.
Prior to establishing their business and with a raft of studies behind them including production horticulture, agroforestry and a study of tree-based agriculture and forestry systems (University of Queensland), Forest Science (University of Melbourne) and a diploma of Forestry (Queensland Forestry Department), Gary and Kaara worked for two different not-for-profit organisations running farm forestry extension programs and developing contract servicing capacity.
For more than 20 years, they delivered farm forestry services and education projects to private landholders, resulting in hundreds of hectares of prosperous native eucalypt plantations and revegetation.
These plantations are now producing high-value commercial timber products. All these plantations provide landscape services such as habitat, soil protection and carbon sequestration.
The time spent working on different properties throughout the vast Southeast Queensland rural area provided Gary and Kaara with invaluable experience growing forests across all soil types, landscapes and slopes. The couple were rewarded by making and developing connections with all the landholders, contractors, suppliers, clients, colleagues, students and researchers.
Forest Land Management’s primary expertise and experience are in growing and managing native eucalypt plantations for timber and revegetation purposes. Farm forestry is the art and science of successfully growing trees on farms in a way that maximises speedy and healthy results, culminating in high survival rates.
Kaara and Gary have developed unique systems designed to reduce risk and increase the success of planted forest establishment.
In 2021, the couple identified a need expressed by many of their long-term customers for their expert advice and services.
Also, demand for forestry management (FM) services was strong and growing.
Fuelled by the increasing demand for durable hard wood timber, a fluid property market and a very limited number of suitable forest management services.
“The market is continuously looking for advice that they can trust from providers who have long-term experience, proven best practice systems and are committed to the long-term success of their forest development,” Kaara said.
“Experience, a scientific approach and longevity are keys to our success. Our rapid growth is all coming from word of mouth, our customers telling others about their successful results from working with us and using our processes and systems.
“Growing a forest is a long-term investment regardless of your reasons for doing It. It is much easier for clients to commit to the investment if they trust your advice and that you will be around to support them,” Gary said.
“When we started our own business, we were confident that our years of experience working for others and the systems we had developed would work, but we had little to no business experience,” Kaara said.
“A friend recommended us to contact Business Mentoring Noosa.
“It turned out to be exactly what we needed. A sounding board who was not a friend or family member, who would listen to our ideas objectively.
“We were assigned two highly experienced business professionals who gave us feedback and direction and helped us set current goals for our business. Our mentors guided us to think about the evolution of our business and prepared us for the hurdles we would face in the future. I highly recommend BMN to anyone that feels they need assistance in growing their business.”
Forest Land Management clearly has a bright future and fits perfectly into the ethos of the Noosa Shires’s sustainability DNA.
For more information, contact forestlandmanagement.com.au/ and for mentoring bmn.org.au
