Prof. David Norton, recently retired from the University of Canterbury School of Forestry, makes the case for native forest, not short-rotation pine forestry, on steep erodible hill country.
#CycloneGabriel #forestry #NativeForestRestoration #Aotearoa #NZ #pines
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@joncounts do native species need planting? In tropical zones, I am aware of successful afforestation based on planting a few keystone species trees, that then attract birds that naturally seed the land.
@tetrislife You're right. In many places in NZ there's no need to plant trees. We just need to turn off the obstacles to natural regeneration, like possums and goats and bird-predators, and wait for nature to do its thing.
Planting a few species of early successional woody species can help to get things started by shading out the grass.
In other parts of NZ, where there's hardly any wild native vegetation left (e.g., the Canterbury Plains), planting lots of species really is essential.