Very little to nothing else grows in California euc forests.

See: http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/bsantos/section2.htm#THE%20MULTIPLICITY%20OF

- The Eucalyptus of California. Section One: The Early Years: http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/bsantos/section1.htm

- The Eucalyptus of California. Section Two: Physical Properties and Uses: http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/bsantos/section2.htm

I find the two documents above very informative!

Eucalypt pollen has been present in Australian pollen records from circa 25 million years ago

circa 10 million years ago, fire becomes an important part of the landscape due to gradual aridification of the landscape as Australia moved into the drier latitudes.

As a palynologist (someone who studies past pollen) I find it quite bizaare that the sediment record only had 1% pollen, unless it was an arid environment completely devoid of Eucalyptus species then I find this hard to accept. Eucalypt pollen is abundant in almost every pollen core taken from sites in Australia.

To say that natives can’t do what exotics can take a look here

http://www.goldfieldsrevegetation.com.au/PlantCatalogue.asp

The native fauna we have, ranging from the largest to the smallest has adapted to the the conditions prevalent in Australia long before Indigenous people arrived. Take a walk around and inspect herbivory on native versus exotic species.

The poor soil conditions we have are not due to the vegetation growing on it, the complete opposite hence why people use fertilisers! The lack of tectonic activity the majority of the conitent has endured, the lack of glacial activity releasing phosphorous from ground up rocks and the high degree of continentality have all played major roles in the creation of our soils which has resulted in Australia having some of the oldest rocks discovered in the world lying at it’s surface. We simply have had not much new material added to it, Eucalypts adapted to these by having longer life spans to their leaves, and a few protective measures to prevent herbivory at their later life stages. My staghorns live quite happily on leaf litter from the neighbours Euc.
A willow here or there is not going to vastly improve soil conditions and if it does will these be suitable for the natives to grow on.

One more comment regarding You Yangs Euc plantation, do you see a diverse ecosystem functioning underneath a pine plantation?

Look forward to responses

It’s stupid to vilify eucalypts without explaining their role in different ecosystems. Sure, on the banks of denuded rivers, Willows have their place in preventing erosion and improving the quality of rivers and creating shade and providing a place for shade-intolerent vegetation to develop. But that’s in one, degraded and destroyed ecosystem, of course.

It’s also important to acknowledge that in fact Australia’s Eucalypts are in decline due to our interventions and mismanagement of the land, and due to the planting of smaller, shade-intolerant species of trees. Of course replanting Eucalypts rather than these supposeldy non-native species of trees is not the answer. Yet one answer lies in acknowledging the role of fires in Australia’s ecosystems. It’s in fact the lack of low-intensity fires in dry Eucalyptic ecosystems where people now live and expect a completely fire-free zone that’s created such a problem in so many parts of Australia. It should be acknowledged that wet Eucalptic forests are highly-resistant to fire and in fact can thrive even alongside the threat of high-intensity fires. Our prevention of fires is in fact a disruption to these ecosystems.

I also fear that the whole debate about Eucalypts as weeds has begun scapegoating indigenous australians. Eucalypts were not created by indigenous australians; they are in fact millions of years old, and are incredibly genetically diverse. Indigenous australians never created a monoculture of Eucalypts; they only created the low-intensity and spatially scattered fires that allowed Eucalypts to grow in the dry and hot conditions that emerged shortly after their arrival and that, like it or not, will always be a factor in the Australian landscape as climate change continues.

Indigenous and endemic species are labels invented by man because of the total lack of the understanding of time frame. Both of these terms refer to a moment in time. Ginkgo biloba and Sequoia were at one time endemic and indigenous to various areas of Australia from Tasmania to North Queensland. Neither of these is now considered and Australian native. In England the Scotts pine came from the Mediterranean region of Southern France and moved north as the ice age retreated. By the time man got arround to naming plants it resided in Scotland and they called it Scotts pine.

The climate has and is changing because man has changed the vegetation profiles of the landscape. Desertification occurs through the loss of tree and general vegetation cover that carries moisture inland from the sea. Rainfall is highest at the coast and diminished as you travel inland. Where forest exists from the coast inland the circulating effect of rainfall and evapotranspiration sees water precipitated and then the atmosphere recharged with moisture to carry the rain inland. Think of the rain baring atmosphere as a tumble weed rolling inland but getting smaller as it rolls. The rate that it reduces is directly proportional to quantity and quality of forest it travels across.

The Government and its henchmen what you to believe that all is well and noting has changed and that the indigenous – endemic status quo is still fine and we should not allow foreign plants into the community. Unfortunately the word community is miss understood by them. We have the technology to sustain human organs removed for transplanting. Organs removed form the recipient are stored or kept alive and transported for implantation to the recipient. Both the donor and the recipient are organisms the part is an organ. A tree, Eucalypt or Willow is and organisms in it self but only an organ in the landscape community. Through our need for food and habitation we have cleared the land of the community and we just have the remnant organs left. The landscape community of macro, meso and micro flora and fauna are the human body which we have segmented and depleted and in some areas destroyed.

We need to reestablish the community and only looking to what was once endemic and indigenous plants is a futile effort of tokenisms at best. The artist does not only use primary colours, he blends and mixes to form a kaleidoscope of various hues. This is what we have to do in reestablishing the Landscape Community. Willows will not run rampage across the country and are relatively easy to control. The Some Willows and some other plants such as some Melaleuca and Swamp Cypress and Mangroves can live standing in water. The produce a root mass that filters the dissolved and suspended particles our of the water purifying it. But of equal importance is that they capture those nutrients into the organism and give them back up to the soil. The nutrients taken from the water drive the plants growth and the roots mass of a tree is often many times that of the crown. Poplar and some Ficus up to 5 time Willows 2 to 3 time the crown mass. These roots extend back into the land and are nutrient rich as they die and decompose the enrich the soil with organics and nutrients that other lesser flora and fauna exploit. The landscape community begins again.

Ignorance of the webwork of nature is the problem we face and the narrow perspective of the policy makers. We can never hope to change views we mast always strive to adjust views and behavior. Rivers are drains and as such require lungs to remove the residues of agriculture and mans excretions the Weeping Willow is an ideal servant to help us with out needs. Once we learn to live in harmony with our environment we can reintroduce the River Red Gum to then once again pristine healthy river and creek systems.

Nicholas J. Rivett
Dip Hort 1968 Burnley. R.F.S.Cert Arb.(Eng.) 1973, Cert Arb. 1974 (Merrist Wood Eng.) MAIH

A friend of mine works for the Department of Sustainability and environment. He’s studied Environmental Science and bought into the prevailing pro-native, anti-willow dogma. When he came to visit the farm and observe the work of Peter Andrews, on seeing the clear water and biological diversity at the base of the system, my friend said “If it takes willows to create a riparian zone as healthy this, then I’m sold”

We have an open day at the end of October so anyone who lives nearish should come and see for yourselves.

All the best,
Cam Wilson, Mulloon Creek Natural Farms