17/07/2009 – Forest Solutions influences seed management

Forest Solutions has identified that the decade-long drought in SE Australia may have significantly reduced flowering frequency in eucalypts, producing periodic shortages in seed availability. Seed is critical for the continuance of Ash forests following disturbance - either as natural seedfall or artificially sown by forestry organisations as part of a silvicultural strategy. This shortage of seed is particularly serious given the current high frequency of severe bushfires in Victoria.

DSE commissioned Professor Ian Ferguson (Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne) to undertake a review and economic analysis of predicted seed shortages and the implications for seed collection and management. Forest Solutions contributed to that review with guidance regarding the flowering capacity and performance of Ash forests in Victoria. One of Prof Ferguson's reports on this topic was published in December 2009 in Australian Forestry Volume 72: 195-205.