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Brad Potts (UTAS) discusses the Forest Practices
Plan with Tim Bull (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry), Vanessa Thompson (Senior Forest Planner, FT), and Tessa
Bird (Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the
Arts). (Photo: Fred Duncan)
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Fred Duncan (right) discusses characteristics
used to identify an orchid species with Vanessa Thompson (left) and
Tessa Bird (centre). (Photo: Brad Potts)
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Collecting buds and fruit from the Eucalyptus in coupe
WT019D whose taxonomic affinities remain unclear. (Photo: Tim
Bull)
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Fred Duncan
Forest Practices Authority
'Adaptive management' is a term used to describe how information
from observation and research is incorporated into on-ground
management, with prescriptions and practices changing or evolving
in response to new information. There are many instances
where practices in Tasmania’s production forests have been
modified through adaptive management. At times, these changes
have been at a coupe level, at other times at a landscape or
regional level. Changes can also occur at a policy or
legislative level – an example is a current review of the
Biodiversity Provisions of the Tasmanian Forest Practices Code,
where an expert panel of scientists and practitioners have been
assessing biodiversity management and regulation in forests in
Tasmania and other Australian states.
Professor Brad Potts from the University of Tasmania has been
providing advice on forest genetics issues to this panel.
Often the catalyst for adaptive management results from
co-operative research and information-sharing by many
stakeholders. The rest of this article describes some
coupe-level and landscape-level decisions in the Wielangta area,
which have involved scientists and planners from the CRCF and UTAS,
State government agencies (DPIW and Forest Practices Authority),
Forestry Tasmania and independent scientists and observers.
Following the annual review of the FPA’s research program, a
field day was organised by Fred Duncan (Manager of the FPA’s
Biodiversity Program) to the Wielangta area to discuss on-ground
implementation of a Forest Practices Plan for a partial logging
operation in coupe WT019D (view a land tenure
map of the Wielangta area, showing location of this coupe).
Brad Potts attended and discussed the management of eucalypts of
scientific and conservation interest.
A small eucalypt population of unclear taxonomic affinities had
been located in the eastern part of the coupe by Brad Potts and
Gay McKinnon (UTAS). An adult plant and coppice
regeneration were present that had morphology reminiscent of
Eucalyptus cordata as well as the white gums (E.
viminalis/rubida/dalrympleana). This
site has been excluded from the area proposed for logging. A
marsh adjacent to the coupe contains an outlying population of the
Tasmanian endemic Eucalyptus urnigera – the
site can be viewed as a “stepping stone” between
populations on Maria Island and dolerite mountains in the southern
Midlands and Hobart areas (e.g., Mt Wellington and Quoin Mountain
near Kempton). Some hybrids between E. urnigera and
other eucalypts (E. brookeriana or E. rodwayi)
were also observed. A buffer has been established to separate
the eucalypts on the marsh from the operational area of the
coupe.
Planning for this coupe has also considered the occurrence of two
threatened orchid species (Corunastylis nuda and
Pterostylis atriola) – these species have been
recorded from the coupe and adjacent reserved areas. Many
orchid species regenerate readily after disturbance (and the
wildfires that occurred in this area in summer 2006/07 may have
resulted in a flush of emergence of these species). No
additional prescriptions were needed to take account of the orchid
species in the coupe – this is because of the form of logging
proposed, and the occurrence of both species in reserves adjacent
to the coupe.
Recent surveys have shown that large numbers of swift parrots
(Lathamus discolor) – listed as an 'Endangered'
species – may be breeding in the Wielangta area in summer
2008/09. Foraging in blue gums (Eucalyptus globulus)
and pre-breeding behaviour have been observed in WT019D, in nearby
forest and elsewhere in the Wielangta area. An assessment of
the Wielangta area will be conducted this summer to determine use
of different forest types and different tenures for foraging and
breeding by swift parrots. This will allow management of
swift parrot habitat to be undertaken strategically, which, in
turn, will allow the effects of different forms of forest
management (reservation, wood production etc) to be considered at a
landscape level. An additional complexity is that swift
parrots may use resources for foraging and breeding which may not
occur on the same site. The results of this assessment, that will
be funded by DPIW, Forestry Tasmania and the Forest Practices
Authority, will be taken into account in land use decisions on
public forest (including WT019D) and private forest in the
Wielangta area.
Planning for forestry operations in WT019D has required assessment
of biodiversity values and consideration of their management,
taking into account information on habitats, ecology and effects of
different forms of land use. Planning for the coupe has
resulted in changes to prescriptions and boundaries, and may change
further after the swift parrot survey described above.
Planning at a landscape-level is an important part of forest
management, as the location of resources, species and communities
can change over time as a result of successional processes or
disturbance.
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