Yes absolutely, though I find it a difficult spectrum between pure conservationism vs ecology. I want to plant as many natives as possible, but perfect is the enemy of good, and ultimately I believe creating habitat and restoring a functional ecosystem takes precedence over trying to wind back the clock on colonisation.
I live in New Zealand and am in the process of creating a 35 hectare eco-community which includes 8 hectares set aside for wetland restoration and reforestation. There are existing trusts we could ally with for support, however most of them stipulate planting purely natives, which I don’t believe is practical. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle, so to speak.
Here gorse bushes imported by Scottish settlers spread rampantly on any ungrazed land, and the reccommended approach is to poison them as fast as possible and plant natives in their stead. We’d rather not use pesticides, but there are other options.
Gorse is very vast growing and horrendously thorny, but that can actually be a benefit - animals like rabbits don’t like to feed on it, so it can actually act as a nursery for young natives, and it requires full sun, so as soon as anything grows up from under it, it dies back.
Being able to step back and find ways for ecosystems to work together to restore themselves is the only cost effective/sustainable way to do it at the scale and speed we need to.
Sounds like you’ve got a big project aye? Looking forward to hearing more about it!
Gorse is a fine nursery crop and a nitrogen fixer but you can always cut and paste with herbicide that runs through it’s roots and degrades quickly so the soil remains safe for planting other things as it rots. It’s such a pain (literally) to have around it won’t get shaded out for a decade. At least the ones around the houses and publicKanuka and manuka make great nursery crops as well. The stockings required for a good reforestation project gets so expensive I really recommend looking into the grants. You can always go back through and plug in some food crops later on. I’m going to inoculate ours with some edible native fungi once they form a good canopy.
Huh, I’ve hated gorse since childhood (having to walk through it during school camps sucked), it’s interesting to hear that it can actually be used in a way that’s beneficial to our neat native species!
Yes absolutely, though I find it a difficult spectrum between pure conservationism vs ecology. I want to plant as many natives as possible, but perfect is the enemy of good, and ultimately I believe creating habitat and restoring a functional ecosystem takes precedence over trying to wind back the clock on colonisation.
I live in New Zealand and am in the process of creating a 35 hectare eco-community which includes 8 hectares set aside for wetland restoration and reforestation. There are existing trusts we could ally with for support, however most of them stipulate planting purely natives, which I don’t believe is practical. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle, so to speak.
Here gorse bushes imported by Scottish settlers spread rampantly on any ungrazed land, and the reccommended approach is to poison them as fast as possible and plant natives in their stead. We’d rather not use pesticides, but there are other options. Gorse is very vast growing and horrendously thorny, but that can actually be a benefit - animals like rabbits don’t like to feed on it, so it can actually act as a nursery for young natives, and it requires full sun, so as soon as anything grows up from under it, it dies back.
Being able to step back and find ways for ecosystems to work together to restore themselves is the only cost effective/sustainable way to do it at the scale and speed we need to.
Kia ora neighbour!
Sounds like you’ve got a big project aye? Looking forward to hearing more about it!
Gorse is a fine nursery crop and a nitrogen fixer but you can always cut and paste with herbicide that runs through it’s roots and degrades quickly so the soil remains safe for planting other things as it rots. It’s such a pain (literally) to have around it won’t get shaded out for a decade. At least the ones around the houses and publicKanuka and manuka make great nursery crops as well. The stockings required for a good reforestation project gets so expensive I really recommend looking into the grants. You can always go back through and plug in some food crops later on. I’m going to inoculate ours with some edible native fungi once they form a good canopy.
Huh, I’ve hated gorse since childhood (having to walk through it during school camps sucked), it’s interesting to hear that it can actually be used in a way that’s beneficial to our neat native species!
There is a short film about it called “Fools and Dreamers”: https://youtu.be/3VZSJKbzyMc