Forest Valuation Subcommittee
Committee Members
Keith Lamb (Convener)
Andrew Morton
Andrew Dickinson
Glen Rivers
Nick Ping
Mark Jones
Damian Walsh
Foundation Member: The late Professor Ian Ferguson.
Terms of Reference for the Subcommittee
1. A standing Sub-committee of the Institute of Foresters Australia be created with the purpose of promoting and managing updates to the Australian Forest Valuation Standard
2.The Sub-committee will prepare a works plan for reviewing and promoting the AFVS, for endorsement by the IFA.
3. The works plan to include a biannual meeting schedule comprising:
– one meeting per year dedicated to a review of the AFVS under a works plan to be agreed by the committee, and
– one meeting per year to provide a workshop forum to discuss topics of interest
4. The Sub-committee will publicise meetings and invitations will be issued to Members of the IFA and other interested parties;
5. The Sub-committee will seek to establish formal ties with the New Zealand Standard Valuation Working Group;
6. The Sub-committee will provide an expert forum for determining disputes or providing advice on matters of interest to users and practitioners;
7. The Sub-committee seek support from appropriate funding sources to provide funding for further development and promotion of the AFVS.
Forest Valuation Standard
Access the Forest Valuation Standard here
View the history of the Forest Valuation Standard here
Memoriam Professor Ferguson and Dr Jeremy Leech
Professor Ian Ferguson (1935 –2019)
The Forest Valuation Committee wishes to recognise the work of Professor Ian Ferguson towards the Forest Valuation Standard (A Standard for Valuing Commercial Forests in Australia 2012) and associated Handbook (2012).
A detailed precis of Professor Ferguson’s career can be found here: Ferguson, Ian Stewart – Person – Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation
Vale Professor Ian Ferguson
The forestry profession has lost one of its most distinguished figures with the passing of Professor Emeritus Ian Ferguson, whose career shaped the intellectual and practical foundations of forest science in Australia for over half a century.
Born in Melbourne in 1935, Ian trained as a forester at the University of Melbourne before completing a Master of Forestry and Doctorate of Forestry at Yale. He returned to Australia to build an academic career of rare breadth, becoming Foundation Professor of Forest Science at the University of Melbourne in 1981 and later serving as Head of the School of Forestry, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, and Pro Vice-Chancellor.
Among his many contributions, Ian’s work on forest valuation stands out for its lasting practical impact. As Australia moved to formal accounting standards for forest assets in the early 2000s, it was Ian who drafted the foundational first version of the national forest valuation standard, and he later returned as Technical Editor to guide its revision — work that gave Australian foresters, growers and investors a rigorous, defensible basis for valuing the nation’s forest estate that endures to this day.
His judgement was sought well beyond the university, including chairing a major government inquiry that helped modernise Victoria’s forest sector. His standing was recognised through Fellowships of the Institute of Foresters of Australia and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and the Centenary Medal.
Ian leaves behind a discipline immeasurably strengthened by his scholarship, mentorship and quiet insistence on rigour. Vale, Ian Ferguson.
Dr Jerry Leech (1940-2023)
The Forest Valuation Committee wishes to recognise the work of Dr Jeremy Leech towards the Forest Valuation Standard (A Standard for Valuing Commercial Forests in Australia 2012) and associated Handbook (2012).
A detailed precis of Dr Leech’s career can be found here: Leech, Jeremy Wilfred (Jerry) – Person – Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation
Vale Dr Jerry Leech
Australian forestry has lost one of its most rigorous and generous minds with the passing of Dr Jeremy Wilfrid “Jerry” Leech, AM, on 6 November 2023.
Jerry began his career as a Woods and Forests Department cadet in South Australia in 1959, and over the decades that followed built a reputation as one of the country’s foremost quantitative foresters. From 1970 he led the design of long-term growth prediction systems for South Australia’s radiata pine estate — models so soundly built they remained in operation four decades later. He went on to earn his PhD under Professor Ian Ferguson, studying radiata pine yield models, and to hold roles including Principal Scientist in Forestry Systems, Principal Fellow and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, and Adjunct Professor at Southern Cross University.
It was in forest valuation that Jerry left perhaps his most enduring practical legacy. As Joint Technical Editor of the Australian Forest Valuation Standard from 2001 to 2014, working alongside Ian Ferguson, he helped give the nation’s forest growers, investors and regulators a consistent, defensible basis for valuing forest assets — a framework still relied upon today. His international consultancies for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation carried that expertise to Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Bhutan and beyond.
Jerry’s contributions were recognised with the Commonwealth Forestry Association’s Regional Medal, the NW Jolly Medal, and his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2022. He is remembered as a meticulous scientist and a generous mentor. Vale, Jerry Leech.