Integrating conservation and production in forestry is a common refrain in our forestry community – it was the theme of the Ballarat AFG national conference in 2004 – but we have largely only paid it lip service. Instead, the siren song most of us have chosen to follow has promised commercial returns and income diversification. Farm forestry as a source of environmental services and as a means of reviving rural communities continues to play second fiddle – for a variety of reasons extending from the local to the global.
This paper argues that our private forestry community needs to abandon old forestry paradigms. We think that the time is ripe for a new form of farm forestry – one that creates a strong ‘sense of place’ for participants and brings environmental stewardship to the fore, while tackling the commercial imperative imposed on us by higher order economic pressures.
Pursuing analogue forestry provides a means for bridging the gap between pure environmental, Landcare-type plantings and farm forestry plantations. Analogue forestry involves optimising biodiversity by mimicking the natural forest once found at a place, while consulting with landholders and adding productive elements to the revegetation mix.
In discussing why and how this might occur, the paper moves from the local to the global and presents the main issues, as we see them, in the context of a national/international perspective. It concludes with a series of four analogue forestry design ideas that could be adapted to suit Australian landscapes. To download a high res pdf of the paper click here. Or for a low res version click here.
This paper argues that our private forestry community needs to abandon old forestry paradigms. We think that the time is ripe for a new form of farm forestry – one that creates a strong ‘sense of place’ for participants and brings environmental stewardship to the fore, while tackling the commercial imperative imposed on us by higher order economic pressures.
Pursuing analogue forestry provides a means for bridging the gap between pure environmental, Landcare-type plantings and farm forestry plantations. Analogue forestry involves optimising biodiversity by mimicking the natural forest once found at a place, while consulting with landholders and adding productive elements to the revegetation mix.
In discussing why and how this might occur, the paper moves from the local to the global and presents the main issues, as we see them, in the context of a national/international perspective. It concludes with a series of four analogue forestry design ideas that could be adapted to suit Australian landscapes. To download a high res pdf of the paper click here. Or for a low res version click here.