Lee
I bought the property in January 2012 and it came with about 8000 ten year old Blackbutt trees covering about 6 ha in 2 different areas. I knew next to nothing about trees and found it almost impossible to find any information on the management of plantation timber, particularly Blackbutt. I spent hours researching and reading documents on the Forest Products Commission website. I even read all their recent annual reports.
I did establish that the trees would benefit from pruning and I got some backpackers in to do the work on the trees in front of the house which wasn’t completely successful.
The dam has been designed as habitat for hairy marron and I had bought hundreds of plants from the Geographe Community Nursery and while helping with the planting, Byron told me about the Peer Group Mentoring program
It was such a relief to have someone here who knew about agroforestry. We walked round most of the property but really focused on the Blackbutt plantations as they cover a significant area and needed the attention. It was interesting to see them set up a sample plot so the growth rates of the trees could be monitored.
The report they provided was really useful, I particularly liked it as it didn’t just give suggestions on what to do with the trees, it included an overview of everything on the property and even touched on soil types.
Bob and Adam both emphasised the importance of thinning and pruning to ensure the best value could be achieved from the trees. We had hoped that we could use the thinnings for posts and poles, but Blackbutt is susceptible to termite attack. We are lucky that it makes beautiful mulch and we may look at selling any excess that we don’t use for our own farming needs.
The most interesting thing I got was an estimated value of the Blackbutt timber; I think it was $1200 per cubic metre. I was quite shocked when they said that the likely return was only $40 per tree by 2030. It was such a relief and quite empowering to get a realistic valuation of the trees. Sobering but useful. We are still planning to thin the trees in front of the house to make it more attractive anyway. In the plantation at the rear we may look at thinning and clearing areas for chalets as a future source of income. I want the property to remain as an organic farm with anything new
developing in a sustainable and beautiful way.
As a new landowner, you grow into things, and try different ways of doing things. For example, we picked the olives by hand for the first year, but now use a mechanical harvester.
From complete ignorance, I now have a sense of understanding and am able to see the schedule of works that are required. If they hadn’t come, I would still be floundering. I find it greatly reassuring to know there is a network of people trained in forestry who are able to help without any bias. I feel a duty of care towards the land and I found particularly with Byron and Adam, they understood, they were “sympatico”.
I bought the property in January 2012 and it came with about 8000 ten year old Blackbutt trees covering about 6 ha in 2 different areas. I knew next to nothing about trees and found it almost impossible to find any information on the management of plantation timber, particularly Blackbutt. I spent hours researching and reading documents on the Forest Products Commission website. I even read all their recent annual reports.
I did establish that the trees would benefit from pruning and I got some backpackers in to do the work on the trees in front of the house which wasn’t completely successful.
The dam has been designed as habitat for hairy marron and I had bought hundreds of plants from the Geographe Community Nursery and while helping with the planting, Byron told me about the Peer Group Mentoring program
It was such a relief to have someone here who knew about agroforestry. We walked round most of the property but really focused on the Blackbutt plantations as they cover a significant area and needed the attention. It was interesting to see them set up a sample plot so the growth rates of the trees could be monitored.
The report they provided was really useful, I particularly liked it as it didn’t just give suggestions on what to do with the trees, it included an overview of everything on the property and even touched on soil types.
Bob and Adam both emphasised the importance of thinning and pruning to ensure the best value could be achieved from the trees. We had hoped that we could use the thinnings for posts and poles, but Blackbutt is susceptible to termite attack. We are lucky that it makes beautiful mulch and we may look at selling any excess that we don’t use for our own farming needs.
The most interesting thing I got was an estimated value of the Blackbutt timber; I think it was $1200 per cubic metre. I was quite shocked when they said that the likely return was only $40 per tree by 2030. It was such a relief and quite empowering to get a realistic valuation of the trees. Sobering but useful. We are still planning to thin the trees in front of the house to make it more attractive anyway. In the plantation at the rear we may look at thinning and clearing areas for chalets as a future source of income. I want the property to remain as an organic farm with anything new
developing in a sustainable and beautiful way.
As a new landowner, you grow into things, and try different ways of doing things. For example, we picked the olives by hand for the first year, but now use a mechanical harvester.
From complete ignorance, I now have a sense of understanding and am able to see the schedule of works that are required. If they hadn’t come, I would still be floundering. I find it greatly reassuring to know there is a network of people trained in forestry who are able to help without any bias. I feel a duty of care towards the land and I found particularly with Byron and Adam, they understood, they were “sympatico”.