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https://theconversation.com/victorias-mountain-ash-forests-naturally-thin-their-trees-so-why-do-it-with-machines-268201>
"There has been much global discussion about the best ways to manage Earth’s
forests in an era of climate change and more frequent bushfires.
Some foresters and forest managers support and recommend large-scale industrial
thinning of forests, where a proportion of the trees are removed (thinned) with
machines to increase the size of the remaining trees. Thinning is commonly used
in timber plantations, as it accelerates the development of timber trees.
In its new forest plan, the Victorian government has funded a “healthy forests”
program. This will likely entail reducing the number of trees in the forest and
increasing the space between trees. This plan could lead to extensive
mechanical thinning in the state’s forests. Large-scale mechanical thinning has
already been used in native forests in western Victoria.
Plans for mechanical thinning of forests raises important questions: what
effect will this have? Could it be harmful? And is it necessary for forest
health?
In our new study, we describe how mountain ash forests naturally change over
time, from young, dense and uniform forests 15 years after wildfire, to forests
with lower densities of large trees (and smaller trees) in older age. Our work
suggests human intervention is not needed to reduce the density of trees or
create a diversity of tree sizes needed for wildlife."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
