So What does a sustainable plantation look like?
Forestry. There are so many negative associations and for very valid reasons. Just look at these before and after satellite images of this property, taken in 2012 and 2015. This is what clear felling with big machinery looks like.
Traditionally, forestry enterprises in Australia have operated solely for short term profit per acre. Grow it. Cut it. Bulldoze and burn it. Maybe repeat. We believe there are other, more insightful ways that we can manage the valuable resource that is wood.
Birdsong is an ever-evolving journey of sensitive land-based practices. We have an approach that grounds itself in a bigger picture of long term outcomes with perpetual cycles. We see the value in the forest, not just the cut trees. With intelligent and sensitive management of this plantation we can not only provide timber for different needs but lock in carbon, provide habitat and improve biodiversity.
What does doing things differently look like in practice?
Existing Plantation Management
Recognising that Eucalyptus as a species (in this case Tasmanian Blue-gum) regenerates potentially endlessly when it is managed to that end. At Birdsong we are working with a plantation of multi-stemmed regrowth so the management of this plantation looks like this:
-selectively thinning the densely planted trees
- choosing the healthiest leaders and removing multi-stemmed growth.
This lets in more light and grows better timber. Letting in more light and creating spacings between trees also allows the re-introduction of diverse understory species which will provide habitat and reintroduce bio-diversity where there is none.
Summary
-mature stumps stay in the ground
-plantation is selectively thinned
-the harvested timber is sold as sustainable firewood and biochar
-the next rotation of timber is left for longer, for higher value timber resource
-prunings and off cuts continue to provide firewood and biochar products
- harvest selectively (no clear felling). and start again with the next rotation
Multi-species plantation
Wood is a precious commodity and we look to pioneers such as Rowan Reid from Bambra Agroforestry as exisiting examples of what future, sustainable timber growing and harvesting looks like. Small scale, sensitively managed, multiple species (native and non-native) plantations that can ride the storm of a changing and uncertain climate. We will diversify and introduce other species of trees for timber on areas of the property earmarked for continued timber production. This will create novel eco-systems and a multi-generational timber crop.
Summary
- Site specific native and non-native species interplanted within existing plantation zones
- Trees raised for multi-generational wood harvesting
- Understory reintroduced for wildlife habitat
- Trees will only ever be selectively felled
- High value timbers over time
- Blue-gum continues to offer sustainable wood products
Not All of the Trees are for Human Consumption
Our masterplan sees large areas of plantation phased out over time. This is done slowly so as to exploit the existing benefits of the trees in situ. Namely, shelter from wind, moisture retention and soil binding. Rows of blue-gum acting as nursery trees for the replanting of endemic species. The areas earmarked for transition are large tracts between exiting remnant vegetation and along Pipers Creek and other seasonal creek lines. These will never be harvested and will lock in carbon and provide habitat for perpetuity.
Summary
-Existing blue-gum act as nursery trees to help raise up new plants
- Bi-annual planting days, reintroducing endemic species such as Banksia marginata
- Continue to thin blue gum as re-introduced species mature
- Blue gum timber and bi-products sold
- Biodiverse, endemic woodland is never harvested and will continue to lock in carbon for its lifetime
- Benefits to wildlife and humans alike
Expertise, Education and Collaboration
We are learning as we go and will never have all the answers. We are always seeking, questioning, researching and reaching out to experts in the field. We are working with Wood4Good who share our views on sustainably managed forests and are collaborating with us here at Birdsong. We believe in freely sharing learnings and knowledge and will document our successes and failures for the benefit of all. In future we would like to hold tours so that those learnings can be seen first hand and we hope to invite the experts we are engaging with to share their knowledge with other interested folk.