Tasmania, autumn sunset

Looking west from the back blocks of Somerset last night. (Friday, April 20).

Brenda Rosser Some informative links

They’re all from the ‘Plantations 2020 Vision’ website at:
http://www.plantations2020.com.au/environment/

” Soil is a critical natural ingredient in growing healthy and productive timber plantations. Plantation managers take great care to protect soil and minimise erosion and compaction. .. Trees can reverse damage to soil structure caused by over cultivation in intensive agriculture..
When plantations are harvested, leaves, needles and small branches containing nutrients remain on the site. ”

With the image of the roasted soil. + you can see also that they’re ploughing downslope instead of across the slope.

+
The images that clearly show native forest around this clearfell put the lie to:

“plantations.. provide significant habitat for native fauna and are buffered from surrounding cleared land by the plantation trees ..”
http://www.plantations2020.com.au/environment/biodiversity.html

Also see:

“”Australian plantations and commercial forests removed a net 43.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in 2004…By removing carbon dioxide fromt he atmosphere, forests, forestry, and the use of wood products are helping mitigate climate change…

About 24 percent of forest biomass is in roots, and 21 percent in woody debris on the forest floor. Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory ASSUMES (my emphasis) that roots decay over 10 to 20 years. …”

Reference:
‘Forests Wood and Australia’s Carbon Balance’ a report by the Australian Government’s Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation and the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting.
The report can be downloaded at:
http://www.plantations2020.com.au/reports/index.html