MORE ABOUT TREES
Some of my readers are wondering what it was that Peter Spencer wanted to do on his property. I’ll quote the words of Kahn Spencer posted on Agmates.
The people on this forum and those all over the world that are supporting Peter in his stand deserve to know what his motives are. At this point money is obviously a major concern, the bottom line is Saarahnlee and many other properties are no longer a viable business due to this legislature. So yes money is part of it but it is not the sole reason or the main reason for his stand.
The irony is that not only does Peter not have plans to do any major clearing on the property, he has spent a great deal of time and money researching and designing a forestry sustainability plan for the property. He had a goal several years ago, I remember because he would talk about it all the time when we were children, that goal was to selectively harvest and replant a variety of, mostly native, trees. By doing this the farm would be able to sustain a very controlled form of forestry without ever causing a significant reduction in the total vegetation. It was in essence a vegetation management plan. This devastating legislature will not even allow him to do that.
For details about the legislation and how Peter Spencer has not been able to get a hearing in the courts of Australia, go to http://loveforlife.com.au
Those of you who have read my November posts related to Peter Andrew’s book Back from the Brink will know that water not only flows over land, but travels downhill beneath the soil to our gullies and rivers, unless it is all taken up by the thirsty Eucalyptus saplings now stealing two percent of Queensland grassland each year. They are nothing more than woody weeds but are protected under the State vegetation laws
Romeo Lane Corner 2006
When we last cleared trees from our land, they were not on the portion protected by the Queensland Remnant Vegetation law, but on land adjoining Mt. Stirling Road and Romeo’s Lane. The fences in this region were destroyed by the bushfire of 2002 and another fire had gone through this corner during the winter of 2006.
We did not want to replace the fences as we had no livestock, nor was the Stanthorpe Shire Council prepared to pay half the cost. Over a number of years the Council workers had dumped loads of rocks and other debris in the corner section of these roads, creating a blind corner for motorists, when overgrown with grass and bushes, and also preventing the natural run-off of water from these roads. I spoke to the Council engineer about these issues but when nothing happened, we cleared the land at our expense. Since then we have maintained the land at our expense.
Grassed road corner
I then planted the area with grass and the Stanthorpe Shire Council installed new guide posts. However, we break a law every time we cut this grass as our ride-on mower is not a registered road vehicle. We are over-governed with laws!
From this cleared corner the water flows over the ground and under the soil down through an area of grass and wildflowers. This ground cover prevents erosion, but allows the water to make its way slowly down the slope to our dams and then into the Severn River.
Wildflowers beside Mt. Stirling Road
It is my intention to plant some trees, other than Eucalyptus species, on this slope. There are indigenous trees like Kurrajong trees that will shade the ground but not steal all the water.
Below this slope I left some Eucalyptus trees spaced to provide shade for livestock, and which when spaced like this will grow to mature trees and within another fifty years begin providing hollow limbs as nesting places for Australian birds and fauna.
Trees for shade
It can also be seen in this photo that I have planted a variety of deciduous trees along our gully. The cultivated land on the other side of the fence belongs to our neighbours. Presently cattle prices are depressed, not that you would know that when you buy beef in the shops, and our neighbours are overstocked with cows and calves. Other than grazing our geese on this land we had no use for the grass, so suggested a year ago that our neighbours install an electric fence and graze their cattle on our land. We are not charging an agistment fee because these cattle save us the cost of mowing this land.
Cattle and geese
Again in the above photo you can see a remaining Eucalyptus tree, plus deciduous Spanish oaks behind the dam and Radiata pine trees in the foreground, which I have planted.
There is an old saying, “You have to break eggs to make an omelette.” Peter Spencer wanted to establish a managed forest on his land, which would have meant that some trees were cut down each year and others replanted. Despite the emotive photographs so often shown in the media of land being cleared, such film teams never return a few years later to see the long term result.
Yes, there is still smoke in our valley this morning, but the wildfire has been brought under control. You can read about the bushfire of 2002 in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.
Book Cover
Technorati Tags: Australia, Australian, Das Helwig Haus B&B, eucalyptus, Peter Spencer, Queensland, trees, Wildflowers wilderness and wine
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