TROPICAL TRIALS: TACKLING FUNDAMENTAL ESTABLISHMENT PROBLEMS

摘要

There is mounting evidence that the establishment of hardwood plantations in tropical Australia is being hindered by misguided planting methods and poor communication between seed suppliers and forest managers - as Jim Bowden reports. Why plantation development in Queensland and the Northern Territory is lagging behind southern states was hotly debated by tree breeders, plantation managers and nursery owners at a recent workshop on the Sunshine Coast. National Forestry Inventory figures for hardwoodplantings in 2006 show 42,775 ha for Queensland and 23,480 ha for the Northern Territory against 62,628 ha in New South Wales, 174,030 ha in Tasmania and 175,330 ha in Victoria.