News

The most important challenge ahead

The history of forestry in our region which is about managing for wood, has changed the structure and therefore function of forests. This is illustrated most clearly by the change in character of harvested resource that has occurred over 100 years. There are no more single log loads anymore and the acceptable log is getting smaller. The community are aware of this, and those most obvious in the media advocate lock it up and do-nothing approach. The jury is still out on the correct approach to management but doing nothing has seldom produced desirable outcomes, and the current context of changing climate and fire regimes, it is difficult to justify. The public purse can’t fund adequate management of parks, the value of wood alone can’t fund weed control, fuel reduction, habitat maintenance and the private landholder is least able to fund good forest stewardship.

The unavoidable reality is that until forestry and forest values can occupy a competitive space in normal financial decision making, then the risk of land use change is present. Public protest may influence decision makers from time to time, but if the dollars indicate change, then a way is often found.

The greatest challenge ahead for forestry is finding the financial resources to fund good forest stewardship. The community is the primary recipient of benefits of forests, and indicate demand for the services through electoral power. Is the path forward that of punishing landholders for poor management as is the case currently, while burdening them with the cost of good management, or is there a product here that can be be formed and marketed to be exploited as responsible behaviour of business and the community?

Taking cover at establishment 

Anyone who has established tree plantations on previously cleared pasture will know the challenges that arise from competition with grasses and the invasion of woody weeds onto cultivated soils. At the most recent field day organised by SFFA and conducted at Lune de Sange cabinet timber plantation, a new approach was demonstrated by Karl Vickstrom and Travis Beswick 

 To manage the physical competition of grasses and other weeds, Lune de Sange trialled spraying the original ground cover of pasture grasses with grass specific herbicide (Verdict) and replacing these with a mix of broadleaf ground cover plants commonly used by the macadamia nut industry to provide ground cover under orchard trees. The current mix of grounder covers is clover, chicory plantain, daikon radish and vetch. These are characterised as having a low profile. Clover is a legume that fixes nitrogen, the radish grows a tap root that breaks clay, the chicory and plantain do the same with root penetration up to 1.8m which also captures nutrient low in the soil profile. Vetch is also a legume. These plants provide the all-important cover of mineral soil preventing more aggressive weeds invading and supresses grass. The mix of plants is also much less aggressive in competition and is easily spot cultivated to provide a planting hole. 

 A spin off of this trial and successful demonstration of a new establishment technique, has the vigorous response of the tree seedlings, quickly establishing and reaching above the ground cover. The additional advantage is the ease when slashing to control later. Much easier than grasses. A noted outcome has been the reduced browsing of new trees by wallabies.

Establishing the ground cover requires spray out the grass, and then seeding the paddock with an aerator/seeder. To spray and plant costs about $1100/Ha.

Image of ground cover established on previous pasture.

Hazard-reduction burning for fire safety

Over recent years a dichotomy of views has developed about bushfires. Some academics and environmentalists seem to opt for the ‘emergency response’ approach, that is, wait for a fire to start and then throw everything at it so that it is extinguished before it does any damage. However, bushfire practitioners and foresters accept there will always be a need for emergency response, especially on hot, windy days. However, they say that if the firegrounds are properly prepared, fires will be easier, cheaper and safer to control by emergency responders.

The chief mitigation tool of that second group is hazard-reduction burning, that is, deliberate, supervised burning under mild weather conditions. The aim is not to prevent bushfires altogether, which is impossible, but to reduce the amount of flammable fuel in bushfire-prone places in advance of a bushfire starting. At the website listed below is the view of Forestry Australia on forest fire management.

In NSW, before conducting a burn landowners must obtain a (free) Hazard Reduction Certificate from the Rural Fire Service. Amongst their guidelines, they say

·       “Hazard reduction burning … must be planned carefully and carried out with extreme caution. Burning should only ever be conducted under the appropriate weather conditions, otherwise there is a real danger that the fire will get out of control”,

·       “Ultimately you are responsible for any fire you light and if it escapes you may be liable for the damage it causes. Before you start you should be confident that you can carry out the burn”,

·       “If you intend to burn during the Bush Fire Danger Period, or light a fire which is likely to be dangerous to any building, you will also need to apply for a Fire Permit. The Bush Fire Danger Period is generally from the 1st October to 31st March and may be varied by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. For more information see the document Before You Light that Fire.”

The application form for a certificate and a number of other useful documents, which offer guidelines and rules to help you plan a burn of any sort, are available from the NSW Rural Fire Service website at the address shown below.

Despite the drive to manage fire by reducing fuel loads, regulation of the frequency of fuel reduction burning (12 years) and the risk of litigation if a fire you light moves on to a neighbouring property render this tool almost inaccessible.

These notes were compiled using:

·        An article written by Australian forester, Roger Underwood, published in Quadrant Online at https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2023/07/canadas-grim-lesson-in-bushfire-management/.

·       Forestry Australia, July 2023 ‘Position Paper’ on forest fire management https://www.forestry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Forest-Fire-Management-June-2023.pdf.

·        Information from the NSW Rural Fire Service, available at https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/resources/publications/hazard-reduction.

Flooding 2022

Looking back to the flooding in the Wilson River catchment of 2022, the announcement of efforts to formulate a solution to managing flooding, and the request to CSIRO to form an opinion, I have paused to think as well on this subject.

Can Vegetation MAKe a Difference TO Flooding

Let’s try with a thought experiment… So plant a nice thick belt of trees across the river, upstream of The Channon, so we reduce the flow of water to a third of what it was before. Trouble is that Terania Creek there is steep, falling 10m vertically in a 200m horizontal distance. So it doesn’t take long to accumulate a few extra cubic metres of water above our belt of trees – and in a steep narrow valley, that volume means a few decimetres increase in depth (and in the gradient of the water surface through our trees.

Computed roughness coefficient, Manning’s index, 0.11. About 3 times slower flow than concrete.

Events

WOODFEST

Our signature community event, “WOODFEST” including an exciting furniture and joinery competition, inspiring farm forestry demonstrations, endless information sharing, music and food, hasn’t be able to run since 2019. We are still enthusiastic about running again and seek volunteers to help us.

Planned for next Spring 2024. If you think you can get involved please contact us, or maybe you can set your mind to an innovative piece for the competition.