SE Australia Treeless in 100 years

Eric Frei

An excellent read.

The living dead - Australia's disappearing landscape

Also a better video here.

http://current.com/items/76791832_treeless-australia.htm

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Graeme

Thanks for putting this link up, that area is my childhood home, I was edjumacted at Boorowa Central School. My family had 5000 acres of grazing land in the district, thankfully my father talked me out of going onto the land, he had already seen the writting on the wall. Yes this report is spot on, the tree cover is slowly declining, no young trees except maybe along roads and in reserves, many of the small creeks that used to run clear and contain fish now are just strings of muddy sterile waterholes, no tree cover along the banks, with maybe a few European Carp slithering in the bottom. It's amazing however, how well adapted to this degraded landscape Blackberry, Pattersons Curse, Serrated Tussock, Sifton Bush, Rabbits, European Carp etc. etc. ect. seem to be.

Graeme

Sean Freeman

Excellent information Eric....

Two more books (yes I know....i know) that any Aussie (or international)Arborist that makes the mental connection between their work and this topic should have or at least get out of the library and read...


Managing and conserving grassy woodlands, edited by S. McIntyre, J.G. McIvor & K.M. Heard


There are a very large number of quality researach papers published on this general subject matter.

Done it

Anyone watch this?

Australian Story :: Right As Rain - Part 1

Click Right as Rain [Full program] to watch it. I saw a repeat yesterday, part 2 is on Monday.

Very interesting. Not a new idea, but a different one.

An old friend of mine is sort of involved in this,
Greening the Desert | Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

Done it

So, nobody watched it?

Guess you don't want part 2.

Australian Story :: Right As Rain - Part 2

Sean Freeman

Thanks for the reminder and the links, a very very very special individual

He is telling a story that a small number of others have also touched on...seemed like the natural extension to Keyline and permaculture...great stuff imo.

Oldtimer

Very Nice program. That guy (Peter) reminds me of my father when he was alive. He built many projects that other locals considered silly or not valuable but by his persistence he proved many of them wrong in the long term. Even with minimum education he was able to built canals, drain swampy areas started cultivation of Sugar Cane fields in places other people considered worthless and those places are still in production even sixty years after his work was completed.
He managed to built with local hand labor a nine kilometers long canal to divert a portion of a local river and operated a Hydro electric power plant that provided electricity to three local small towns for over fourty years and created employment for many people in the area.

It is amazing the strong work habits and the great ingenuity that many of those old timers were able to put forward. We have grown lazy and less creative and we sometimes wait for the government powers to solve the problems when they can not or want not do it. Just because his ideas are not documented or are unconventional does not mean they are not valid.

They just looked at a problem from a different angle and work the solutions in their minds kind of a natural instinct to problem solving. I guest we used to call that "Common Sense" they had more of it than their contemporaries.

waughd

Thoroughly enjoyed the programs, have ordered his books.
His website is Natural Sequence Farming for those interested.
Thanks again for the headsup

waughd

FWIW books were received by post in 2 days
They are an easy read and make sense
Having a serious rethink on our farm use and practice as a result.