Forestry

A tale of two grasses

How buffel grass changed the dead heart of Australia When you enter the Northern Territory from South Australia the landscape changes immediately from mulga scrub to more open savannah woodland dominated by the introduced buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris).  Buffel grass is a deep-rooted perennial native to Africa, the Middle East and India. This makes it …

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Fabricated myths and politics are causing the mismanagement of water in the Murray-Darling Basin

“It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.“[1] Before I started our travels, I recall hearing and reading stories about the parlous state of the Murray River and its basin. These calls are always louder when there is a drought.[2]  On our trip, I have spent a lot of time …

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A Redwood forest

One of the best secrets in the hills surrounding Warburton is a plantation of various softwood species planted from the 1930s. The most impressive are the coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) which stand majestically at up to 60 metres tall. Called the Cement Creek plantation, the area is a significant softwood plantation. We were thrilled to …

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70 years of bushfires – have the lessons learnt been ignored ?

This blog focuses on two Victorian bush fire disasters 70 years apart. It highlights a failure of governance, a failure to heed fire expert advice, a preoccupation with an emergency response model that has failed in North America and is failing forests and residents in Australia, and an arrogant contempt towards previous bushfire inquiries. This …

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A Charred landscape

“The dead ash forests reach starkly towards the sky like sentinels bearing witness to the holocaust just past, and those who love the bush are heavy hearted because this may be only the beginning of what is yet to come.” David Treasure, 2007[1] Since 1939, the high-country forests in Victoria were relatively free of devastating …

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The aristocratic satinay

Fraser Island is a beautiful place. It is the world’s largest sand island and vegetated dune system. I had the opportunity to work on Fraser Island in the mid-1980s and have had several recreational visits to the island over the years. I still pinch myself these many years later on how fortunate I was to …

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A strange name for a tree

While visiting Cardwell in North Queensland, we enjoyed the forest drive in Cardwell State forest. We stopped to look at Attlie Falls, and as I walked the short distance, my focus was towards the ground. I noticed bark on relatively large trees resembled a Pinus spp (an exotic pine tree). I had a brief but strange …

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