Management Of Weeds & Browsing Animals
Weeds and browsing animals can threaten plantation seedlings before they have a chance to become established.
The foliage of tree seedlings is attractive to browsing animals. Concentrated browsing will damage or kill trees and can destroy a plantation. Protection is required until the growing tips are beyond reach. This will generally take 12 to 18 months but damage can still occur to bark on young pine trees and possums will damage the tops and branches of eucalypts.
Browsing animals include the introduced rabbit, hare, goat and deer together with native species such as Bennett's wallaby, pademelon, and the brushtail possum.
The extra food and water available from improved pastures and farm dams, along with a reduction in hunting have helped animal numbers reach pest proportions in some quarters.
No single adequate and practical method of protecting young plantations in a cost-effective way has yet been found.
Protection is generally managed through the application of three strategies - reducing the density of browsing animals, using barriers and fencing to protect seedlings, and making seedlings unpalatable. Shooting, trapping and poisoning are three common methods used to manage the problem.
Weeds reduce yields in pine and eucalypt plantations by competing with tree seedlings for moisture, nutrients, and light and space.
Weed competition significantly reduces the growth of seedlings in the first few years of plantation establishment.
Grasses choke seedlings and reduce survival on reforested farmland. Other weeds such as blackberry and gorse also reduce access for plantation tending.
Weeds create a fire hazard and can spread to neighboring land. The Weed Management Act of 1999 compels landowners to control declared weeds.