Forestry Corporation of NSW silviculture supervisor Brett Farrow said it had been an exciting discovery, but one that had been challenging to piece together.

“Forestry Corporation purchased the plantation as part of its acquisition of the Lyall group of plantations in 2017,” he said.

“The trees on the plantation were to be harvested and milled for products like house framing and landscaping timber.

“Ensuring water quality is a key aspect of forest management and to do this, we need a good understanding of the topography and drainage lines of the site.

“As the site was new to us, we needed to improve the mapping information we had at hand.

“I surveyed the site on foot to map the drainage features and found what I thought was a small constructed walled dam built on the side of a hill.

“It seemed a bit odd, so I checked our aerial imagery and LiDAR [light detection and ranging] information to try to figure out what this was."

Fortunately, Mr Farrow was able to tap into the knowledge of long-time Forestry Corporation employee and history buff, Bill Klower, who has worked in the forests for over 55 years.

Mr Klower remembered that the Thompsons Creek Copper Mine had tramway lines for firewood collection in the area in the late 1800s.

“With that as a possibility, we looked into local archives and it was exciting to realise that we had a heritage feature on the site,” Mr Farrow said.

“This had been covered by pine trees for half a century and now we know where it is we can protect it into the future. 

“Site preparation for re-planting the plantation has commenced and we are preserving the tramway line foundations.

“The foundations will be cleared of debris and are marked on our FC Map App, ensuring that they won’t be damaged by any machinery on-site as we plant another crop of trees to contribute to the community’s timber   supply for the next generation.”