5 minute read
Silviculture
Support to integrate more trees on farms
ANEW forestry project has been launched to support the integration of more trees on farms in Victoria – helping the state achieve its net zero carbon goals by 2050.
Overseen by Forestry Australia, the Trials Review, Information and Genetics (TRIG) project aims to improve information pathways to assist the expansion of farm forestry in Victoria.
TRIG Project Steering Committee Chair, Dr Kevin Harding said the project aims to build on Victoria’s history of farm forestry to help the state reach carbon targets and expand the productive farm-tree estate.
“Victoria has a proud legacy of extensive farm forestry trials and research established during the 1980s through to the early 2000s,” Dr Harding said.
“The TRIG project intends to build on this history to empower and enable the next generation of farm foresters to harness the remarkable carbon sequestering power of trees to reach net zero goals. It will also diversify products and income streams from farms making them more resilient enterprises.
“Well-managed farm forestry sequesters enough carbon to partly or even completely offset farm greenhouse gas emissions. This is by far the cheapest option for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, plus creates rural and regional jobs and provides diversified farm income.
“Funding from The TRIG Project will support a review that will revisit previous trials to identify priority sites to target for enhancement and data collection. The project will also identify plantings that have performed well to inform how landholders can get better growing trees for their land.
“The project will assess high quality plantings and make recommendations about establishing Seed Production Areas to supply improved seed for farmers. These datasets and reports, along with advice will be made publicly available in mid-2023.”
Forestry consultants PF Olsen Australia will manage the project.
PF Olsen Australia’s Research and Consulting Manager, Dr Phil Lacy, said there was a lot to be learnt from Victoria’s historical species trials.
“These historical species trials offer a wealth of information that can be used to make decisions about future plantings of the most promising species. We aim to identify ‘the best of the best,” Dr Lacy said.
“There is also the potential to identify trial sites that could, with some stand improvement work, become seed orchards and demonstration plantings that help farmers get better production on their land.
“We will engage with farm forestry groups, forestry consultants, CSIRO, and the Victorian Government to learn more about these historical trials and develop a plan for more detailed reassessment of those that are most promising.”
The TRIG project was designed in consultation with Farm Forest Growers Victoria with $503,750 of funding provided by the Australian Government and delivered via the Victorian Government’s Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions. The project will tie closely in with and support Victorian Government programs currently under development including the Victorian Carbon Farming Program and VicForest’s Farm Forestry Program.
•Dr Phil Lacy. •Dr Kevin Harding.
Prickly problem for Murray Region forests
THE Softwoods Working Group and The Murray Region Forestry Hub is seeking substantial funding to support research into finding an effective biological control for blackberries not just in the hub’s area, but across eastern Australia where they are a massive problem.
Executive Officer Phil Clements of SWG and MRFH said a government coordinated, whole-of-landscape approach, across all land tenures, was urgently needed to deal with the serious blackberry problem.
“We want to reduce the impact not only on the pines, but also on our farming neighbours, and we will work with them to get real action on this as soon as possible,” he said.
The MRFH is one of 11 Commonwealth funded regional forestry hubs set up across Australia to explore the impediments and opportunities to developing the timber industry.
Mr Clements said the MRFH had prepared a strategy to assist with industry recovery and development during the next 30 years, which includes a range of initiatives to ensure that the highest possible productivity could be achieved.
“One area of concern is that competition caused by infestations of blackberries - a weed of national significance - would reduce the efficacy of these initiatives,” he said.
“This is a severe problem for timber-producing forests and plantations, National Parks, farms, roadside reserves and along creeks and gullies.
“We are aware that there is some good research work being undertaken into biological control, but these efforts are not being resourced anywhere near sufficiently or progressing anywhere near as quickly as the problem warrants. The long term, permanent solution is now beyond the reach of chemical control alone.”
Chair of MRFH and SWG Peter Crowe said blackberries were a huge impediment to maximising production in pine plantations and he estimated production losses could be in the order of 5 to 10 per cent.
“As well as impacting the productivity of the pine plantations, blackberries contribute to the fuel load in pine plantations and native forests, restrict access for harvesting and fighting fires, and make road and trail maintenance a much greater task,” Mr Crowe said.
“In the South West Slopes region of NSW, 50,000 hectares of pine plantation was lost due to the fires in late 2019 and early 2020. The blackberries provided a larger fuel load in the pine plantations and native forests, which made the fires more severe, particularly due to the elevation of the blackberries - they carried the fire into the trees.
“With the World Bank estimating that global timber demand will quadruple by 2050, Australia needs to take every step to secure and maximise its timber resources to ensure the supply of renewable, carbonstoring, forest products. Imports are no longer guaranteed and the potential adverse, long-term impact on Australia is extremely serious.
“The impact of blackberries on timber production is only part of the story. When added to the presumably similar impacts and costs across other land tenures, the numbers are compounded. Add in the environmental costs and we have a disaster in the making. We need to accelerate the efforts to tackle blackberries now.”
•Chair of MRFH and SWG Peter Crowe inspects wild blackberries in the forest.
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