Stephen Murphy
For over thirty years as a Landcare nurseryman I have helped many landholders design plantations and choose plant species for revegetation projects.
As a founding member of three 'Friends groups' I gained valuable experience working as a volunteer in local flora and fauna reserves for over 25 years.
As a committed member of Australian Landcare since 1989 I have been guest speaker and author of many newsletter articles on native plants and ecology.
This combination of volunteering in reserves and consulting on farms has given my university training in Geology, Ecology and Natural Resource Management a practical edge and important insights.
I could see major problems with the traditional approach to revegetation and in 1996 developed a new design system based on modern science, research and my observations. After ten years of putting this design system into practice on farms and with the support of Ballarat Region Treegrowers (BRT), in 2009 'Recreating the Country. Ten key principles for designing sustainable landscapes' was first published. The updated and expanded second edition published in March 2024 and is now available to purchase here.
Many of the ideas in Recreating the Country are available on this website and are explained to make designing sustainable biodiverse and productive landscapes (biorich) easy and straightforward. You could read a great blog on this topic - Revegetation - mimicking nature, or quickly scroll through my past blogs on many fascinating topics: Revegetation, restoring grasslands, propagation, landscape design & ecology and how to reconnect with nature. These are all in my Easy blog finder.
As a founding member of three 'Friends groups' I gained valuable experience working as a volunteer in local flora and fauna reserves for over 25 years.
As a committed member of Australian Landcare since 1989 I have been guest speaker and author of many newsletter articles on native plants and ecology.
This combination of volunteering in reserves and consulting on farms has given my university training in Geology, Ecology and Natural Resource Management a practical edge and important insights.
I could see major problems with the traditional approach to revegetation and in 1996 developed a new design system based on modern science, research and my observations. After ten years of putting this design system into practice on farms and with the support of Ballarat Region Treegrowers (BRT), in 2009 'Recreating the Country. Ten key principles for designing sustainable landscapes' was first published. The updated and expanded second edition published in March 2024 and is now available to purchase here.
Many of the ideas in Recreating the Country are available on this website and are explained to make designing sustainable biodiverse and productive landscapes (biorich) easy and straightforward. You could read a great blog on this topic - Revegetation - mimicking nature, or quickly scroll through my past blogs on many fascinating topics: Revegetation, restoring grasslands, propagation, landscape design & ecology and how to reconnect with nature. These are all in my Easy blog finder.
The sign outside the demonstration site, Lal Lal, Victoria
In 2010 a 15ha 'biorich' demonstration site called ImLal, was planted at Lal Lal near Ballarat to demonstrate the benefits of this new design system. This demonstration site continues to develop and evolve through the hard work of many volunteer supporters from BRT and local Landcare groups.
Both Federation University and Melbourne University have adopted the project, their students making annual visits to learn and discuss sustainable biorich design and environmental management.
BRT members supported by ornithologists Tanya Loos and Grant Palmer have been conducting seasonal bird surveys since 2010. The results of these surveys are described here
For more ideas on sustainable biorich design explore Ballarat Region Treegrowers biorich demonstration site at Lal Lal: www.biorichplantations.com/
You could also watch a short documentary about the development of the Lal Lal biorich demonstration (ImLal)site:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaHa3nioCpQ
For background on this topic view the excellent documentary; “Rediscovering the Country”
- a film journey into landscape restoration: http://www.landscapes.org/watch-starts-forest-comes-farmer/
If you have a question or an interest in consulting send an email to;
[email protected]
Both Federation University and Melbourne University have adopted the project, their students making annual visits to learn and discuss sustainable biorich design and environmental management.
BRT members supported by ornithologists Tanya Loos and Grant Palmer have been conducting seasonal bird surveys since 2010. The results of these surveys are described here
For more ideas on sustainable biorich design explore Ballarat Region Treegrowers biorich demonstration site at Lal Lal: www.biorichplantations.com/
You could also watch a short documentary about the development of the Lal Lal biorich demonstration (ImLal)site:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaHa3nioCpQ
For background on this topic view the excellent documentary; “Rediscovering the Country”
- a film journey into landscape restoration: http://www.landscapes.org/watch-starts-forest-comes-farmer/
If you have a question or an interest in consulting send an email to;
[email protected]
