March 2010 Field day

A property on the alluvial flats of the Crawford River was visited. It had previously been a dairy farm and a vegetable market garden. A Paulownia plantation had been established prior to the current owner taking over about four years ago, with the plantation size increased since then. We inspected trees at different stages of their life cycle and different planting and management methods. There was an interesting discussion of drying and marketing the timber. The property also had an area close to the river of recent plantings of native trees. After a hike over elevated parts of the property to view areas proposed for bush food crops we dashed through the driving rain to shelter, lunch and the formal meeting, including discussion on the recent Private Native Forestry initiatives.