GOOD TREES – BAD TREES? 1

To some people any tree is a good tree. They know that trees take carbon dioxide from the air and return fresh oxygen. For this reason they call trees the ‘lungs of the world’. They know that through evaporation trees add moisture to the air, which in turn leads to rainfall. Trees also green our view.

In years gone by the forester of Europe was a highly regarded man for it was his duty to ensure that forests were replanted and managed in such a way that there would always be a supply of timber and firewood. However, in Australia in the past twenty years the Forestry departments appear to have lost out following a propaganda campaign instigated by urban people who believe that no tree should be culled. State governments have created more forests and National Parks, but not provided more money for the management of these areas, thus allowing weeds and feral animals to flourish. State governments have created new laws pertaining to land clearing and under such acts as the Remnant Vegetation Act stopped people like Eberhard and me from management of land that we had purchased in 1992. Although we own our land and pay rates on the whole area, we must now be unpaid caretakers of this portion of our property. Many other country people were similarly affected and none of us were ever offered any compensation for this land grab.

This map shows our property, but two thirds of it is shaded. That two thirds supposedly represents remnant vegetation. We can not remove any trees from this area which means we can not use it for agricultural purposes. We put our 14 hectare property up for sale last year and held a widely advertised auction sale in October, but received no bids.

Why? Probably because this land is no longer available for agricultural purposes.

But what are these wonderful trees that must be preserved?

Eucalyptus trees

Various trees

These are trees selected from the book Wildflowers of the Granite Belt.

Not surprisingly, many of them are eucalyptus trees, commonly called Gum trees.

Individually these trees are valuable to the ecology of a district, but when something triggers them to grow in a manner never seen in Australia until about a hundred years after white settlement one must wonder if it is advantageous.

What triggered these trees to grow like weeds? The explanation is that the introduction of the European honey bee pollinated all the blossom of the then thinly spaced eucalyptus trees. There was a large quantity of fertile seed, resulting in the development over the past century of thick stands of weedy looking trees.

Protected trees

This stand of spindly eucalyptus trees are on the portion of our land which is now protected as remnant vegetation.

Such thickets of trees pose a grave threat when the land is not managed properly and can result in devastating bushfires.

Bushfire

So, in writing about the Wildflowers of the Granite Belt I would classify many of these remnant vegetation forests as a proliferation of woody weeds spreading like a cancerous rash across the country. Yet this statement is somewhat like kicking a sacred cow, as so many people who don’t have to live with such dangerous forests believe they are essential for the well being of the human race.

Among the trees shown on the page labeled ‘Various trees’ is the Black Cypress pine, Callitris endicheri.

Black Cypress Pine

We have several of these tidily shaped trees on our land. They are much slower in growth than the eucalyptus varieties and are destroyed by bushfires, unlike the eucalyptus which over thousands of years of Aboriginal burning adapted to fires.

Thus these Black Cypress pine trees are in danger of elimination as they can not compete for space against the eucalyptus varieties and are destroyed in the bushfires fueled by the thick stands of eucalyptus trees.

On these two pages of Wildflowers of the Granite Belt only one tree is singled out as a weed species. It is the introduced Pinus radiata – commonly called the Radiata Pine. This tree originated in the Caribbean and was brought to Australia as a plantation timber. A large forestry of Radiata pines was established on the Granite Belt at Passchendaele early last century. These trees thrived and when young are an attractive shape. It wasn’t long before residents of the Granite Belt were planting small forestry plantations, or windbreaks of these trees on their land.

When we bought our farm in 1992 there were a few young Radiata pine trees on our land. I liked the bright green foliage and bought extra young trees from the State Forestry Department to plant on our land in 1993.

Radiata Pine trees

I wished to green our winter view, provide shelter and future timber. As the trees matured the large black cockatoos have come to feast each year on the pine cones. Many Australian birds have adapted quickly to eating the grains, nuts, cones and fruit brought to Australia by the settlers from the northern Hemisphere.

As yet, I have found no self-sown Radiata pine seedlings on our land, but young Radiata pine trees are thriving along the verges of the New England Highway and other district roads. Presently they are small trees competing for space amongst the other woody weeds growing unchecked on this State and Council managed land. I believe more should be done now to thin all these trees, (not only the pines) or within another ten years the Councils will have a major job clearing fallen trees or overhanging branches from the highway and roads.

What a wonderful resource these woody weeds could be if the road sides of the Granite Belt were thinned back to a few, well spaced,  mature trees. Small Eucalyptus trees, radiata pines and other woody weeds shredded for wood chip could provide a financial resource for our shire councils instead of being allowed to grow until destroyed by bushfires. What do you my readers think of this suggestion?

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

In my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine I recount watching a bushfire roar through the tree covered hills of the Granite Belt. See http://www.australia-book.com.au to read more.

Presently I am sharing with you for free chapters of another book I have written called The Forgotten Ones where I discover the beautiful forests of Germany. http://fayhelwigauthor.com