Harnessing forest ecological sciences in the service of stewardship and sustainability: A perspective from ‘down-under’

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.07.024

Forest Ecology and Management

Volume 256, Issue 10, 10 November 2008, Pages 1636-1645

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.07.024 Get rights and content

Abstract

Australia's native forests are predominantly Crown land, managed by the States. Regional Forest Agreements between four of the States and the Federal Government (1997–2001) resulted in a 36% increase in the area of conservation reserves and a 15% decrease in area of multiple-use (including timber harvesting) forests. The limited acceptance of timber harvesting in native forests, together with the rapid expansion of hardwood plantations, has diverted research focus away from native forests. Recent events including a prolonged drought and two forest fires totaling more than 3 million ha should have stimulated research in native forests on the effects of fire on ecosystem processes, on the management of fire and on management of water catchments; fires, far more than logging, are shaping our native forests in recent times. In particular, the use of prescribed fire to reduce fuels has decreased. We argue that Australian research effort in native eucalypt forests is lacking in two key areas – the effects of fire on carbon storage in forests and soils, and on the management of water yield from forested catchments. The results of forest research are variously published in the scientific journals, and increasingly in consultancy reports to governments or a to a range of organizations and industries. The question of who does the harnessing of knowledge coming from the science of forest ecology is compounded by constant changes in both political and management arrangements. If forest science is to assume a greater role in politics and forest management in Australia, scientists must enter the foray, using the fighting words of politics rather than maintaining the protective mantle of neutrality. With research in native forests being continually downgraded at both State and Federal levels, we take a somewhat less than optimistic view about how well ecological sciences will be harnessed in the service of forest stewardship and sustainability in Australia.

Section snippets

Introduction—forest science within Australian society and politics

How well has the science of forest ecology served forestry, stewardship and sustainability, notions that apply to the management of all forests, for all of their products and services? There is a science to serve forestry, stewardship and sustainability; however, given the scales of both time and area, forest science is open to interpretation both within the ranks of forest scientists and within the ‘emotional psyche’ of people.

The forest debate has been very different in nature from debates

Areas and industries

Australia's native forests total 162.7 million ha, almost 70% of which is woodland (crown cover 20–50%). Multiple-use forest – defined as ‘public forest where timber production is permitted’ – covers some 11.3 million ha, most (7.3 million ha) of it within open-forest (crown cover 50–80%) in areas of annual rainfall greater than 500 mm in the south-west, south-east, east and north of Australia; open-forest covers 5.9% of the continent.

Australia also has 1.82 million ha of plantations (data for 2006),

A commentary on research in hardwood plantations

Research in hardwood plantations has been largely user-driven: genetic and selection studies to improve growth rates and wood quality; site management studies of fertilizer regimes and weed control; studies of growth and biomass in relation to carbon storage. However, research has been limited in areas such as the effects of wide-scale planting on water balance, on reserves of groundwater, and on the capacity of a site to maintain productivity in the long term.

Three inter-related driving forces

Discussion and conclusions

Under the National Forest Policy Statement (NFPS; Commonwealth of Australia, 1992), Australia aims for sustainable management of all its forests, whether the forest is within reserves or in production forests or plantations, on public or on private land.

The NFPS adopts three principles as the basis for sustainable forest management:

•
maintaining the ecological processes within forests (the formation of soil, energy flows, and the carbon, nutrient and water cycles);
•
maintaining the biological

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Citation Excerpt :
In particular, the potential for prescribed fire to reduce risks from (unplanned) wildfire is highly topical given ongoing experiences of large damaging wildfires (Adams, 2013; San-Miguel-Ayanz et al., 2013), and given recent predictions of more frequent, extensive and severe wildfires under climate change both in temperate Australia (Bradstock, 2010; Clarke et al., 2011; King et al., 2013), and globally (Flannigan et al., 2013). In south-eastern Australia, this has led to implementation of recommendations for an expanded prescribed fire program (Parliament of Victoria, 2010; DSE, 2012), potentially involving hundreds of thousands of hectares of State land each year, and comparable with historical peaks in annual burnt area (Attiwill and Adams, 2008). Since forest fires emit greenhouse gases, regular burning of large areas of forest by prescribed fire will likely have a carbon cost (North and Hurteau, 2011).
Prescribed fire is a common management practice in fire-tolerant forests, and one that has potential carbon costs. Previous assessments of the carbon costs of prescribed fire regimes in temperate Australia have been based on little empirical data, and have focused on direct fire effects (area burnt, fuel consumed) but have largely ignored potentially substantive indirect effects on tree mortality and growth. This study measures effects of four prescribed fire treatments on standing tree-based carbon stocks, and on individual tree growth and mortality, in a fire-tolerant eucalypt forest of south-eastern Australia. Prescribed fire treatments were as a factorial combination of two seasons (autumn or spring) and two frequencies (3-yearly ‘High’, or 10-yearly ‘Low’), were replicated over five study areas, and involved 2–7 low-intensity fires over 27 years.
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Harnessing forest ecological sciences in the service of stewardship and sustainability: A perspective from ‘down-under’

Abstract

Section snippets

Introduction—forest science within Australian society and politics

Areas and industries

A commentary on research in hardwood plantations

Discussion and conclusions

Atmos. Environ.

J. Hydrol.

J. Hydrol.

Soil Biol. Biochem.

For. Ecol. Manage.

J. Hydrol.

J. Hydrol.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Complexity, wickedness and public forests

J. For.

The disturbance of forested watersheds

Tansley review no. 50: nutrient cycling in forests

New Phytol.

Policy inflation, capacity constraints: can criteria and indicators bridge the gap?

Is soil carbon a useful indicator of sustainable forest soil management? A case study from native eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia

For. Ecol. Manage.

Assessment of ecological effects due to forest harvesting: approaches and statistical issues

J. Appl. Ecol.

Ecological effects of harvesting in Victoria's forests: quantification of research outputs

Aust. For.

Australian landscape burning: a continental and evolutionary perspective

Towards resolving conflict between forestry and conservation in Western Australia

Aust. For.

Effects of fire on properties of forest soils: a review

Oecologia

Effects of increasing fire frequency on black carbon and organic matter in Podzols of Siberian Scots pine forests

Euro. J. Soil Sci.

Charcoal and carbon storage in forest soils of the Rocky Mountain West

Frontiers Ecol. Environ.

An analysis of sap flow in mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of different age

Tree Physiol.

Only small changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations found one year after experimental slash-and-burn in a temperate deciduous forest

Biogeosci. Discuss.

Changes in leaf morphology and anatomy with tree age and height in the broadleaved evergreen species, Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell

Trees Struct. Funct.