AgroForestry

Forestry: Design and History

Dalpura incorporates a range of just under 20 hectares/50 acres of Agroforestry systems and species, planted progressively over the last ten years. Plantations are located in sections of the farm which would have been cleared for pasture in the 1960s, when the property was first settled. Our aim has been to create an inter-generational forest for timber production, comprising mixed species and age classes of trees, and allowing natural regeneration of undergrowth species to develop as an evolving component of the system. Utilising Permaculture design techniques, the trees have been planted in mounds on a Keyline layout, to maximise use of available water.

Since then more complex and experimental systems have been developed on a smaller scale, interplanting native and exotic timber species. Hardwoods from Europe and North America such as oak, ash, elm, beech, cherry, birch and liquidambar have been combined with Acacias and a few other native species from different regions of Australia.

Silvicultural management of these plantations has included form, lift and ladder pruning, selective thinning and subsequent coppice management. Some of the larger thinnings have been extracted for milling and other uses including firewood, borders for garden beds and trellis structures for the espaliering of fruit trees and vines. A small trial is also underway using thinned logs as a growing medium for Shiitake mushrooms, with assistance from the Otway Agroforestry Network.

Notes on individual systems (Click to see more details):

1998 Native Forestry Plantations
2000 Native Forestry Plantations
2002 Native Forestry Plantations
F5: Combined exotic and native forestry system (2004)
F4: Combined exotic and native forestry system (2004)