Can lessons from the Community Rainforest Reforestation Program in eastern Australia be learned?
The Community Rainforest Reforestation Program (1993-2000) was an attempt to create healthy vegetated catchments that maximize wood production, environmental protection and employment in eastern Australia. Despite a AUD10 million outlay, these goals were not fulfilled, because of limited
resources and continually changing circumstances (goals, staff, institutions) that hampered the efforts of both researchers and coordinators. Both technical and managerial lessons need to be learned: blanket guidelines are rarely helpful because species, nutrition and silviculture need to
be matched to each site; vigour, provenance and nutrition of nursery stock is critical to plantation success; health surveillance should not be overlooked; early growth trends may not reflect commercial outcomes; experiments should be planned and adequately funded to examine mission-critical
problems thoroughly; and records should be archived, and secured in more than one location. Inability to securely maintain long-term forest research data has been a common failing in many forestry endeavours. Experience suggests that researchers should rely on their professional networks rather
than their employing agency to secure data and other records contributing to a professional knowledge base.
Keywords: Australia; mixed-species; plantation; rainforest; silviculture
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia.
Publication date: 01 June 2006
- The International Forestry Review is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original research and review papers on all aspects of forest policy and science, with an emphasis on issues of transnational significance. It is published four times per year, in March, June, September and December. Theme editions are a regular feature and attract a wide audience.
The IFR is part of The Global Forest Information Service - GFIS
International Forestry Review has an Impact Factor of 1.705 - Editorial Board
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