Andrew and Sue
In 1987 my wife, Sue and I purchased a 32 ha property in the karri forest west of Pemberton and established a 6 ha vineyard. Having been involved in the organic wine industry in the United Kingdom, I have employed organic principles in our winery. In 2003 Mountford Winery became the first National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Accredited
(NASAA) organic winery in the region with the vineyard accredited soon after in 2006.
The property has 15 ha of 30-year-old regrowth karri forest which needs thinning, burning and management for future timber products, for example poles and sawlogs. Markets for the thinning’s and future timber products need to be found.
I am on the Warren Catchment Council’s mailing list and read the advertisement about the Peer Group Mentoring (PGM) project. This prompted me to contact the Warren Catchment Council and I was put me in touch with Julian from the PGM project. A site visit and meeting was arranged with three mentors (Julian, Peter and Byron) and we discussed the issues with managing our regrowth karri forest.
I am also interested in employing traditional burning practices used by the Aborigines. I discussed this with a retired Department of Park and Wildlife (DPaW) employee and she had read a book call ‘The biggest estate on Earth – how aborigines made Australia’ by Bill Gammage. I now have a copy of this book and I would like to follow some of their burning strategies and incorporate both hazard reduction and bio-diversity burns.
Following the initial visit and reading the mentor’s report, I have contacted a fire officer from the Shire of Manjimup and ‘autumn burning’ was suggested. I also burnt a small area last year.
A few years ago I returned to the UK and enquired about market for karri poles, particularly in house construction. I was inspired by the ABC television programme – Grand Designs and the episode featuring ‘Cob House’ (cob is a mixture of mud and straw which is used to line the house walls) in East Devon. Meeting Kevin McCabe the person restoring Cob House, which uses timber poles to support the tall structure, got me thinking that this could be a market for our karri poles.
I am also interested in using our thinning’s for making biochar to improve the vineyard soils.
Being involved with the PGM project has made me think more seriously about managing my remanent bush. I have discussed burning strategies with a local government fire officer and I am also interested in traditional aboriginal methods. I am interested in participating in a future Master Tree Grower’s course to investigate tree management options for our regrowth karri forest.
In 1987 my wife, Sue and I purchased a 32 ha property in the karri forest west of Pemberton and established a 6 ha vineyard. Having been involved in the organic wine industry in the United Kingdom, I have employed organic principles in our winery. In 2003 Mountford Winery became the first National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Accredited
(NASAA) organic winery in the region with the vineyard accredited soon after in 2006.
The property has 15 ha of 30-year-old regrowth karri forest which needs thinning, burning and management for future timber products, for example poles and sawlogs. Markets for the thinning’s and future timber products need to be found.
I am on the Warren Catchment Council’s mailing list and read the advertisement about the Peer Group Mentoring (PGM) project. This prompted me to contact the Warren Catchment Council and I was put me in touch with Julian from the PGM project. A site visit and meeting was arranged with three mentors (Julian, Peter and Byron) and we discussed the issues with managing our regrowth karri forest.
I am also interested in employing traditional burning practices used by the Aborigines. I discussed this with a retired Department of Park and Wildlife (DPaW) employee and she had read a book call ‘The biggest estate on Earth – how aborigines made Australia’ by Bill Gammage. I now have a copy of this book and I would like to follow some of their burning strategies and incorporate both hazard reduction and bio-diversity burns.
Following the initial visit and reading the mentor’s report, I have contacted a fire officer from the Shire of Manjimup and ‘autumn burning’ was suggested. I also burnt a small area last year.
A few years ago I returned to the UK and enquired about market for karri poles, particularly in house construction. I was inspired by the ABC television programme – Grand Designs and the episode featuring ‘Cob House’ (cob is a mixture of mud and straw which is used to line the house walls) in East Devon. Meeting Kevin McCabe the person restoring Cob House, which uses timber poles to support the tall structure, got me thinking that this could be a market for our karri poles.
I am also interested in using our thinning’s for making biochar to improve the vineyard soils.
Being involved with the PGM project has made me think more seriously about managing my remanent bush. I have discussed burning strategies with a local government fire officer and I am also interested in traditional aboriginal methods. I am interested in participating in a future Master Tree Grower’s course to investigate tree management options for our regrowth karri forest.