25/08/2009 – Forest Solutions guides regrowth protection

The 2009 bushfires killed extensive areas of Alpine and Mountain Ash forests. Ash forests are susceptible to fire and are usually killed. Their self-regeneration depends on natural seedfall, a process that proceeded very well following the 2009 bushfires. For areas already identified and approved for harvesting, VicForests has a two year window within which dead, standing Ash can be salvage harvested for community and sustainability benefits. But what happens to the natural regeneration?

Forest Solutions has provided guidance to VicForests and reviewed an existing "Post Wildfire Salvage" Instruction to maximise the protection of regrowth during salvage operations. Routine harvesting techniques can be adapted and varied to assist this protection. The guideline links strongly with DSE's Native Forest Silviculture Guideline No. 17 - Forest Recovery After Bushfire, providing a strategy for regrowth management.

If regrowth is too severely damaged, the Instruction also provides guidance for the regeneration of salvage-harvested areas; a process that Forest Solutions continues to assist and develop.