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Otway families plant hardwood forests on cleared farmland
1 Aug 2005
Between 1990 and 2002, the forest cover in the Yan Yan Gurt Creek catchment in the Otways in south-western Victoria increased from 6 per cent to 21 per cent of the total area. There are now 396 hectares of planted trees compared with 23 hectares 15 years ago. About 90 family farmers belong to the Otway Agroforestry Network. Trees planted include snowy gum, shining gum and blue gum, blackwood, she-oak, Sydney blue gum and oak. Some of the trees have been planted on short, 14-year rotations for woodchips. Hardwoods for sawlogs, which are more valuable, need a much longer growing period, but not as long as the 60-80 years required for native forest rotations. The network aims to produce quality hardwood sawlogs on a 25 year cycle.
The Age, 01/08/05
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