 A very noteworthy feature of Lal Lal is its pub A sleepy town with something unique...other than the pub 22 kilometers south of Ballarat is the sleepy town of Lal Lal. Here if you explore a little you will uncover the usual small town amenities plus a very pleasing red brick pub and a beautiful but crumbling historic bluestone station. It’s also the home of a unique plantation that successfully marries biodiversity with forestry. Though many thought at the beginning that a happy long-term relationship was very doubtful  Imlal south. Ballarat Region Treegrowers first visit in 2010 In the beginning Ten years ago a group of Foresters from the Ballarat Region Treegrowers scrambled over an old farm gate and walked onto an open field beside the road to the Lal Lal falls. The land was mostly a windblown swamp, but it was summer so the clay soil was hard, compacted and cracking. It had been offered to the foresters by the French mineral company Imerys, who mine kaolin nearby. The group was considering the land's potential for planting Australia’s first biorich demonstration plantation.  A typical forestry monoculture of Southern Bluegums, Eucalyptus bicostata, in the Otway Ranges A worthy challenge They shared an interest in growing trees for profit and they also shared a desire to challenge one of the fundamental paradigms of forestry. The long held belief that commercial forestry should consist of monocultures of timber trees You have probably seen this type of forestry plantation. Usually vast plantings of a single species of pine or gum. They’re planted with the intention to harvest in 15 – 25 years. They’re a tree crop grown for the production of wood or pulp for paper. The nagging question for these foresters was ‘how can forestry plantations be made more biodiverse?’ This question loomed large in importance with the continued clearing of forests and woodlands in Australia, often to make way for planting forestry monocultures. Ecologists have known for decades that forestry monocultures don’t support the diversity of bird and insect life that is found in remnant forests nearby.  A Monterey Pine plantation, Pinus radiata incorporating remnants of a eucalypt woodland Hobbs et al in a study of hardwood plantations in 2002 found; ‘Vertebrate and invertebrate assemblages are less diverse than those in native vegetation, largely because of the relative structural simplicity of the plantations’ Hobbs observed that hectares and hectares of tall trees didn’t suit a lot of Australian fauna. They needed the more complex structure provided by shrubs and understorey that is natural to native forests and woodlands. ANU researcher, Dr David Lindenmeyer had observed that forestry plantations often supported wildlife if they were connected to remnant patches of bushland. So its reasonable to say that for many bird species the native bush is the ‘gold standard’ that makes up for the shortcomings of commercial forestry.  ImLal south in 2010. showing the lines sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate and then deep ripped before planting The holy grail - forestry that is biodiverse? The Ballarat group made a decision to plant a new style of forestry that aimed to be as biodiverse as the native bush found around Lal Lal. It would also include many of the elements of traditional forestry. They wanted to prove that forestry could be both economic and biodiverse, which meant that it should support the full diversity of local wildlife. These new plantations would employ the design principles recommended in ‘Recreating the Country’ a blueprint for the design of sustainable landscapes by Stephen Murphy, the author of this blog. Their plan was to plant two 4ha sites (Imlal south & Imlal north) connected by a wide biolink. Their intention was to recreate diverse layered indigenous 'dry-forest' similar to the remnant vegetation found locally. Commercial forestry tree species were also to be incorporated. The primary objective of the project was to restore both sites with income producing and biodiverse plantings.
 Form pruned Shining Gums, with a shrub layer of wattles behind. The taller understorey is also visible Ten years on Driving along the road to the Lal Lal falls and gazing to the left, ImLal south emerges as a surprising contrast to the surrounding landscape of tussocky swamps. There are groups of tall trees and there are clumps of bushy shrubs. Remarkably they look as if they have always been there. A visitor to the site will see very little difference between the Lal Lal State Forest and this new biorich plantation. A difference they would see is the 'form pruned' groups of tall trees that appear as long straight branchless poles. These will produce saw logs for sale in another 5 - 10 years. Standing near a group of 40 Shining Gums, Eucalyptus nitens, you can look through their smooth trunks to a bushy clump of 20 Hop Wattle, Acacia stricta, an indigenous small shrub of the Lal Lal area. Beyond the Hop Wattle, groups of indigenous Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata and Silver Wattle, A. dealbata create a taller understorey layer. If you stand perfectly still, you will see small birds moving from branch to branch, from tree to tree and from layer to layer. They’re safe and well fed in this sheltered vegetation mosaic that is the maturing biorich environment  Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Lichenostomus chrysops. Photo Birdlife Australia The bird life is truly remarkable. Regular bird surveys have been done since October 2011, a year after the first planting. Seasonal surveys are led by ornithologist Dr Grant Palmer from Federation University, Ballarat. Ornithologist, Tanya Loos led earlier surveys There was an initial siting in 2011 of one small flock of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Lichenostomus chrysops, eating insects from the leaves of one year old Blue Gums, Eucalyptus globulus. In 2019, over 30 surveys later, more than 80 species have been recorded at the site. Grant Palmer recorded 30 species in his diary on a blustery day in May 2016 and wrote; ‘We had the pleasure of observing many Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and New Holland Honeyeaters, a White-eared Honeyeater, a few Brown-headed Honeyeaters and White-naped Honeyeaters and Silvereyes all working through flowering Swamp Gum in the planted section, with Brown Thornbills and Superb Fairywrens working the lowest levels, a Spotted Pardalote pipping in the foliage, and a Golden Whistler was also lurking in the inner foliage. A Grey Shrike-thrush and Grey Fantail were also clearly associating with this group. Watching this group of birds over a number of minutes provided a real highlight for the day’  The flock of Noisy Miner, Manorina melanocephala have moved on Encouragingly a resident flock of Noisy Miners Manorina melanocephala, an Australian native species that aggressively excludes all other small birds, has not been observed since the end of 2013. Planting clumps of shrubs and understorey that now provide shelter and protection for small birds like the Striated Pardalote, Pardalotus striatus is likely to be responsible for the absence of the Noisy Miner. Pardalotes are now regularly seen. Grant Palmer simply and concisely explains why dominating flocks of Noisy Miner are a problem in bushland - click here then scroll down to read more about Noisy Miners  Four year old group-planted Swamp Gum, Eucalyptus ovata, at ImLal south The design features that were used at ImLal to enhance biodiversity, sustainability and productivity are summarised here; (1) A diverse mix of indigenous plants from 16 families; 21 genera; and 33 species. The species list was compiled from;
(2) The inclusion of indigenous eucalypts (x5) and acacias (x7). These genera provide important food, habitat and resources for wildlife. (3) The creation of five vegetation layers which improves the feeding efficiency for wildlife and makes them less vulnerable to predators. The ground layer is developing as trees die or are thinned. These logs are left on the ground to provide habitat. (4) Clustering plants into same species groups of 5, 10, 20 & 50. The smaller species are planted as larger groups. (E.g. Kangaroo Grass, Themeda triandra, was planted in groups of 50; Tall Eucalypts species were planted in groups of 5). This ensures adequate pollination for fertile seed production and good foraging for wildlife. Planting this way automatically builds in structural vegetation layers.  Naturally regenerating Swamp Gums amongst a clump of flowering Dogwood, Cassinia aculeata. (5) Encouraging natural regeneration from the remnant roadside vegetation to within 40m of the adjoining boundaries. This is an exciting aspect of revegetation which encourages nature’s latent potential to gradually restore the open areas (6) The 150m average site width ensured excellent opportunities for regeneration of each species and minimises the edge effect making it attractive to more species of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians (7) Developing vegetation linkages between the north and south sites by planting a biolink. Also linking to the roadside reserves and ultimately the remnant vegetation around the Lal Lal reservoir (8) Incorporating 12 forestry timber species in easily accessible large clumps to provide resources and a future income stream. These trees are form pruned to add value to the timber. Locally endangered Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata and Bushy Needlewood, Hakea decurrens have been planted as a seed orchard. There are many other possibilities to harvest seeds for food, for sale or for later revegetation projects. For example, the clumps of local Swamp Wattle, Acacia retinodes can provide seed for the food and beverage market. Click here to read more about wattle seed's prospects for becoming the next macadamia  Melbourne University Forest Science students visit in March this year. Photo Gib Wettenhall Experiencing is believing ImLal now attracts annual visits of forestry and environment students from Melbourne University, Federation University and Geelong TAFE. The students conduct surveys and experience the pleasing ambiance of this new style of revegetation. They can observe that it has many of the features of the natural bush with the addition of productive plants that will return a significant income in the future. They can appreciate that forestry and biodiversity can be happily married, while recovering the much needed high quality habitat and species diversity that has been lost to wildlife through clearing.
 Click here to read more about how to design a biorich plantation which incorporates income generating plants into a diverse & sustainable biodiversity planting Photo - Delicious Muntrie fruit, Kunzea pomifera, as a ground layer species in a biorich plantation. It produces edible bushtucker for the culinary market and important on-ground habitat for insects, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. A clear win-win  Click here to visit the biorich revegetation website to learn more about the design of the biorich sites at ImLal and the inspiring results.
Photo. An aerial view of the ImLal site before it was planted showing the south and north sites separated by a large wetland which was a kaolin quarry
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In this blog Gib describes a Traditional Owner cool burn and looks at its cultural importance through the eyes of indigenous leaders. Gib argues that Australians could learn how to conduct cultural burns in a 'Fire Masters' course, taught and managed by indigenous experts. This would ensure that the method remains pure and achieves desired outcomes such as reduced fire risk in summer and restored biodiversity. Photos by Gib Wettenhall unless otherwise cited  Uncle Rod Mason, a Ngarigo elder and expert in Traditional Owner cool burning Cultural burning as an agent of renewal At a traditional Aboriginal-style mosaic burn in autumn last year, 30 of us were counter-intuitively removing logs and large sticks within a 300 square metre area defined by a broad line of yellow spray paint. We were preparing a patch of grass and weeds for firing within open box woodland in north-east Victoria at a workshop organised by the Wooragee Landcare group. The man-in-charge issuing instructions was ‘Uncle Rod’ Mason, a Ngarigo elder who had learnt how to use fire growing up in the Western Desert. From a young age, his community had placed a box of matches in his hands and he grew in responsibility, along with everyone else in his language group, learning through experience when and how to deploy fire. Where Western culture breeds fear of fire, Uncle Rod relishes it as an agent of renewal: “You got to fire it! When you burn Country, it makes it brand new fresh.”  Dead wood was removed from under large gums to minimise 'dampening down' after the burn The principles of indigenous fire management Fire, we now understand, was the major tool employed by Aboriginal people to manipulate the landscape on a grand scale. They burnt to maintain vast grasslands to sustain mobs of kangaroos. They fired a patch in late summer to bare the soil so their underground larder of yam daisies and orchid tubers could surface. They set fire to hunt game, clear a path, attack an enemy, call a meeting, spiritually cleanse it. Uncle Rod described the three principles of Indigenous fire management that underpin patch burning continent-wide. He cited these principles as,
Reducing the fuel load was the reason Uncle Rod first fixed us with his intense gaze and oversaw the removal of logs and large branches from our defined patch of grass and weeds. Smouldering logs can burn for a long time and prove a fire risk, he pointed out. Two years prior, at a cultural burn at the Teesdale flora reserve, Uncle Rod and his team removed the dead wood from under the large gums at the back of the block. On the left hand side of the reserve where the CFA planned, at the same time, to demonstrate their cool burn techniques, no such precautions were undertaken. Their fire flared much higher and dampening down the burning logs proved a struggle. Next, Uncle Rod went down on one knee and made a small pyre of leaves and twigs. We were to dot these mini-bonfires at regular intervals throughout the patch. When these were spread throughout to his satisfaction, Uncle Rod tested the wind. “You got to trickle burn backwards into the wind,” he said. He lit the first mini-bonfire and gestured towards the neighbours we were to light up. They burnt low and slow into each other. A cloud of white smoke rose and enveloped us.  Uncle Rod stood in the centre directing traffic Understanding local winds is important Uncle Rod stood in the centre directing traffic. He’d wave an arm: “Light more fires over there!” When the fire crept over the yellow paint boundary, he’d send a group to beat it back. He lay on the ground so he could feel wind flows and predicted from cloud patterns that we could expect a wind change that evening. “When the clouds are low, the wind is more predictable,” he said. “When they’re higher, you have more updraft. It’s important you know your local winds.” The slowly spreading fire was a wonderfully gentle process, which was accompanied by much laughter, chatter and no fear. It’s not generally recognised, but even ‘cultural burnings’, as they’ve become fashionably known in the Landcare movement, are underpinned by a socio/religious aspect.  Women's burning looked after soft soil with herbs and grasses. Fire and culture I asked Uncle Rod what he saw as the cultural essence of Aboriginal-style burning. “Cultural fire is gender-based,” he answered without hesitation. “Man or woman, we had our own secrets. Woman looked after soft soil with herbs and grasses. Men cared for tall trees like stringybarks or ironbarks. Kids had a role crunching up kangaroo dung – it’s key to slow burning along with plants and trees to make charcoal, the magic ingredient for life springing up fresh.”  "a trickle burn cuts through the swathe of old growth at ground level..." Making Country In reviewing the literature on Indigenous burning, ethno-botanist, Dr Beth Gott found that most historians and researchers believe the major purpose behind lighting up a patch was as an aid to hunting game. In reality, as Traditional Owners frequently assert, it’s to “clean” country – to sweeten and refresh the grass for herbivores; to bare a patch for favoured food species; to remove ‘rubbishy’ dead long grass or tangled shrubs impeding movement. A trickle burn cuts through the swathe of old growth at ground level. It cracks open the soil, releasing dormant seeds, fostering new growth that is fertilised by the slow-cooked charcoal combination of trees, plants and kangaroo dung. “It’s how we make Country,” said Uncle Rod. The patch being burnt was covered in the toxic weed, St John’s Wort. Baring the earth through fire was seen from Uncle Rod’s perspective as a first step in bringing back Country. “This country is wild. We’re getting rid of weeds and retaming it.” Repetitive pattern work is integral to Indigenous design whether in a dot painting, clan symbolism, digging murnong yam daisies or management of land. Fire is no different. Large scale ‘hazard’ burning is antithetical to the Aboriginal approach of building a mosaic pattern, slowly and incrementally, until eventually a whole landscape has been burnt and remade. "Aboriginal mosaic burning patterned the entire continent, as vital, intricate and connected as the scales on a crocodile’s back or the feathers on an eagle’s wing".  Cultural burning in Tasmania as depicted by Joseph Lycett in 1832 Understanding the 'three laws' of Wind, Fire and Rain “We don’t burn the same patch again,” explained Uncle Rod. “We’ll burn next to it. That’s how we build Country.” Pattern work even infuses how people collaborate on the fire ground. Wind, fire and rain – these are the “three laws” that those seeking mastery of fire must understand, said Uncle Rod. Totem groups with interlocking expertise serve each of these three ‘laws’ or elements. Ideally, you would have representatives from all three totem groups present when making fire, said Uncle Rod. “You have [for example] to get waterbird and eagle totems working together.“ The complexities of the clan relationships that underly slow-burn, mosaic pattern work are yet to surface in the mainstream. Our historical perspective of fire in the landscape remains coloured by the ignorant and biased views of most explorers and pioneering settlers towards Indigenous peoples. To his credit, Captain Cook admired 250 years ago what most settlers saw only as threat. Near his namesake town in far north Queensland, he records in his journal sitting on the beach with some sailors while nearby an elder gathered a small group of young men, who, under his instruction, lit a small circle of fire. They were totally at ease and Cook remarks on how the Guueu Yimithirr people “produce fire with great facility, and spread it in a wonderful manner… and we imagined that these fires were intended in some way for the taking of the kangaroo…” But neither he nor those who followed could rise to imagine that Aboriginal mosaic burning patterned the entire continent, as vital, intricate and connected as the scales on a crocodile’s back or the feathers on an eagle’s wing.  A typical CFA burn is lit as a line of fire with drip torches. This method produced a hotter fire and a lot of black smoke. Photo Tracey McRae Spreading cultural burning lessons more widely I would contest that we can no longer leave it all to the scientific ‘experts.’ As once occurred with Indigenous people, all of us living in the country ought to be trained in how to use fire and to collaborate with neighbours in cool burning of our forests and vegetation. Declaring war on the bush and burning the bag out of the landscape serves neither man nor beast. We need to replace our overweening fear of fire with a more thorough and nuanced understanding, including how local topography, climate and different vegetation types will affect the fire regimes to be delivered. No doubt some will turn up their nose at the Indigenous affiliations of cultural burning, but wouldn’t it have proven more benign if the explorers and pioneering settlers had paid more attention to the facility with which the locals employed fire?  Courses in Traditional Owner burning are now taught at Cape York. Photo Dale Smithyman A 'Fire Masters' course for managers of rural landscapes Why don’t we devise a training course in how to deploy fire proactively to prevent conflagrations as well as to optimise our nation’s biodiversity? Such a ‘Fire Masters’ course for forest landholders could be similar in style to the Master TreeGrowers course that has proven so successful in skilling up farm foresters world-wide. It would incorporate the best of both worlds – Indigenous traditional knowledge on mosaic pattern burning combined with the results of evidence-based scientific research on the impact of fire on native flora and fauna in differing ecotypes from heath and savannah through to woodlands and rainforest. Once ignored, Indigenous traditional knowledge has become integrated with the tools and techniques of western science in the widescale burning of the northern savannah across Arnhem Land during the early Dry season. Indigenous ranger programs in northern Australia describe this as the hybrid ’both ways’ approach. We must not, however, as so often happens, take over and speak for Aboriginal people when adapting their traditional expert knowledge of deploying fire. They must lead any cultural burning component and be fully engaged in devising course content. "We must not, however, as so often happens, take over and speak for Aboriginal people when adapting their traditional expert knowledge of deploying fire. They must lead any cultural burning component and be fully engaged in devising course content".  Uncle Rod Mason is the knowledge holder in the south-east of the country Monitoring the impact Two issues stand out for serious consideration before making any attempt to roll out cultural burning more widely across the landscape. First, little monitoring has taken place of the impact on native vegetation and wildlife from either cultural burns or CFA/Forest Fire Management cool burns. Anecdotal reports are an unreliable substitute. As a first step, more monitoring of both forms of ‘hazard’ reduction ought to occur as a precursor to implementing any wider landholder training in cultural or cool burning. We need more Traditional Owner teachers with the knowledge A related issue is the lack of knowledgeable cultural burners and who trains more of them and how. Richard McTernan, the co-ordinator with Wooragee Landcare, has worked extensively with Traditional Owners in the south, like Uncle Rod Mason, who hold cultural knowledge of fire. A ceremonial fire man, Uncle Rod now lives in south coast NSW and is considered by his senior men as the knowledge holder in the south-east corner of the country. Richard has focused for much of his life on increasing the use of Indigenous ecological knowledge and assisting the local Aboriginal community in traditional land management. He has taken part in organising some 10 cultural burns. “Burning country is not learnt over night and I believe local knowledge of the environment is essential,” he contends. He goes on to highlight two tricky, entwined questions: who has the right to speak for country and who has proper traditional fire knowledge for that country? The first impinges on often invisible Indigenous protocols and enters the dangerous territory of cultural appropriation. The second relates to ensuring that cultural fire training is both rigorous and relevant to a particular place. Empowering people to burn without proper training may only lead to further devastation of land and wildlife. We will need to tread round these two thorny questions carefully. "Burning country is not learnt overnight and I believe local knowledge of the environment is essential" Richard McTernan  Passionate about his culture, Indigenous man Dean Heta lights up Connecting Aboriginal people back to their cultural identity While ensuring senior Aboriginal knowledge holders remain at the wheel of cultural burning, training of new practicioners could provide another culturally appropriate employment pathway for Aboriginal people. At the Wooragee cultural burn, a young Indigenous man, Dean Heta, spoke passionately about how so many are keen to get back on their land, managing country. “It’s about connecting Aboriginal people back to their cultural identity.” To paraphrase the environmental scientist and polymath, George Seddon: we live here, not somewhere else. After 200 years of searching for land management solutions from other people and places around the planet, it’s time we stopped ignoring the locals and paid attention to what they were doing in the 65,000 years prior to our arrival.  Uncle Rod Mason with Gib Wettenhall Guest blogger for February, Gib Wettenhall.
Gib Wettenhall has for 25 years written, edited and published books and articles, which acknowledge that the 65,000 year-old Indigenous heritage we have inherited makes Australian landscapes as much cultural as natural. He is the author of The People of Budj Bim, written in collaboration with the Gunditjmara people of south-west Victoria, which in 2011 was Overall Winner of the Victorian Community History Awards. Also, author of The People of Gariwerd, the Grampians’ Aboriginal history, recently reprinted a 3rd time in association with Brambuk. He is currently writing and producing the 3rd in a series of booklets with the Yirralka Rangers, titled Keeping Country, on the bi-cultural approach adopted by this Indigenous land management group in north-east Arnhem Land. As the principal of em PRESS Publishing, his books include Stephen Murphy’s Recreating the Country and Tanya Loo’s nature journal set in the Wombat Forest, Daylesford Nature Diary, which reintroduces a six season Indigenous calendar for the foothill forests. In 2006, he wove the Indigenous heritage of the Gariwerd/Grampians ranges into a series of essays published in a high quality landscape format book with photographs by Alison Pouliot, Gariwerd: Reflecting on the Grampians. He researched and wrote the interpretive signage for the Brambuk National Park and Cultural Centre and is writing the content for interpretive signage for the Budj Bim landscape, which gained World Heritage listing in 2019. Gib can be contacted on gib@vic.chariot.net.au His publications and past essays can be viewed on www.empresspublishing.com.au |
Stephen Murphy is qualified in Geology and Environmental Management and has been a nurseryman and a designer of natural landscapes for over 30 years. He loves the bush, supports Landcare and is a volunteer helping to conserve local reserves. 
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