Test plots

Monoculture revegetation

Monoculture revegetation with legacy trees

Commercial blue gum plantation

Variable retention harvesting - retained ‘island’ of trees

Remnant old-growth forest - the goal of the structural complexity enhancement method

COMMONING: The activist act of doing things together.

Common goods are cultural and natural assemblages held publicly, not privately. Commoning is a dynamic process, so the resulting ‘commons’ will evolve to reflect the co-existance of the public that willed it into existence.

SILVICULTURE TEST PLOT

“Repair is a process, not a destination” Baracco, M & Wright, L (2019) The future survival of the state forest typology may rely on its commercial value. With ecosystem accounting, carbon credits, water catchments, new timber harvest methods and other income streams to consider, this value can be found in many places. Determining the appropriateness and success of these forest values is the job of the public. And again, without the transparency we expect in other parts of democratic society, the risk of these typologies being exploited for profit is high. Therefore, a publicly accessible 30ha plot of land is provisioned to eight groups, each tasked with revegetating their patch of forest. The central node becomes a point of comparison and discussion of technique and motive.

“the history of this discovery [of the forest as a unique ecological type] is a separate and as yet unwritten chapter in landscape studies. It starts with a legal definition, more than a millennium ago, of the forest as a political space, a space with its own special law.” JB Jackson

PUBLIC FOREST LOGGING: A CONFLICTED ARRANGEMENT

In May 2020, the Federal Court found the state’s timber harvesting agency, VicForests, had failed to conduct proper accounting of habitat for critically endangered wildlife in 66 of its coupes throughout Victoria’s Central Highlands. Its method of survey preferenced “desktop accounting”, without ensuring evidence of endangered wildlife was collected on site before coupes were harvested. VicForests contended its new generation forestry methods would be protective for species like the Leadbeaters Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri). However in response to these claims, Justice Debra Mortimer wrote “The evidence suggests, and I find, that the purpose and intention of VicForests’ undertaking this new policy and these new methods is to secure FSC [Forest Stewardship Certification] accreditation so that it derives a commercial benefit – such as getting its products into places like Bunnings. The modifications are not being undertaken for conservation purposes.” VicForests, as a semi-private timber-harvesting agent of the state government, has a conflict of interest in being in charge of forest conservation as well as ensuring it meets Regional Forestry Agreement (RFA) quotas each year. Justice Mortimer wrote “VicForests regard species such as the greater glider as an inconvenience – an interruption to its timber harvesting programs”. Clearly this conflict of interest prevents VicForests from carrying out an unbiased evaluation of its own forestry techniques, much less manage large tracts of primary forest for any purposes other than commercial harvest. Landscape Architecture is often carried out on sites that are openly accessible to the public. In view of the conflicted relationship the State Government’s timber harvester has with its commercial imperatives, it is proposed that a new public space is designed, whereby interested landcare groups, forestry bodies, conservation workers, agroforestry farmers and most importantly, traditional owners, have opportunities to experiment and then demonstrate the values of their best practice.