Research

The Sunshine Coast citizen science program is growing, and council is calling on our community for their ideas. Citizen science is when people volunteer their time to partner with researchers to increase scientific knowledge and collect data about their natural environment.

Forestry Australia has welcomed a new study that highlights the significant value and benefits that state forests deliver for positive environmental, recreational, social and commercial outcomes. Assessing the net benefits of multiple use native forest management in Queensland found that state forests managed for multiple uses in South and Central Queensland delivered additional benefits and superior social outcomes over the long term when compared with benefits provided by national parks.

Construction has commenced on the Kimberley Conservation Hub, a world-class conservation centre at Charnley River–Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Australia ...the important infrastructure will act as a base for critical scientific research, fire management, feral animal control and other conservation projects across 4.3–6.1 million hectares across the Kimberley.

Chicken eggs have become inaccessible to Ukrainians. From January 2020 to October 2022, the average price of chicken eggs has increased 3 times! The price of 10 eggs increased from UAH 21.07 to UAH 60.1. Over the same time period, the average cost of food in Ukraine increased by 42.1 per cent. And the average salary increased by only 5 per cent.

Both researchers I referenced show regular low intensity burning, as practised by Aboriginal people across the landscape, has been lost and Dr Fletcher believes the loss of cool, mosaic burning since European settlement has left us, as a nation, dangerously fire prone. Philip Zylstra seems to have missed this critical point.

In his 24 October response on this issue, Zylstra states that in their study seven times more area of recently burnt forest was burnt than long unburnt forest. That is not in dispute. But was this because there were seven times the number of ignitions in these areas to start with because of chance or differences in area or because of some flammability factor? We simply do not know because this basic statistical requirement was not considered in the study.   Is the conclusion biased, by how much, and in what direction? Who knows?

I have recently re-read Think Trees, Grow Trees, a 1985 publication from the Institute of Foresters of Australia. This excellent little book was the brainchild of, and was edited by Dr Wilf Crane, one of my contemporaries at the Australian Forestry School, a notable forest scientist and famous and eccentric character ... To me, the most important part of the book (in terms of contemporary relevance) is the chapter called Living with Fire. It is written by Phil Cheney.

A proud Gamilaroi man who recently started his own native grains business is partnering with a research team from the University of Sydney to share knowledge, revitalise country and help grow the emerging native grains industry. Les Knox, who owns and operates Garaah Gundal, will this summer lead a harvest collaboration with local farmers as part of a project to modernise Indigenous native grain processing and produce flour from the region’s traditional grain varieties.

Kalyx Australia, a national agricultural business, announced it has completed its acquisition of Staphyt Research Limited’s New Zealand business; a move that sees the company grow its presence for the first time beyond Australian shores. For over two decades now, Kalyx has been leading independent agricultural research in Australia with their national presence and operational excellence.

The mapped fire histories of the southwestern forests show that bushfires have been most frequent in forests with dense understoreys promoted by previous burns, and far less common in areas that have not been burned for several decades, allowing the understorey to naturally thin. Two new voices have entered the discussion on this here and made numerous claims, but their ill-informed comments have distracted from the point.

This month something particularly exciting washed up on Lagoon beach in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park (LHIMP) – a small cuttlefish which had died in recent storms. It was found by visiting researcher Sally Montgomery, and represents the first animal of a Lord Howe Island cuttlefish ever studied.

RVOTDS. Game Management Authority (GMA) (Vic) arranged a first-ever count of Stubble Quails in Victoria early this year, and the resultant report it assisted in drafting, has recently been published. The report’s authors have admitted only 101 birds were counted, yet the figure was extrapolated via complex methodologies up to an extraordinary estimate of 3.1 million.

Dear Editor, I am compelled to respond to the naïve and dangerous comments by Professor Phillip Zylstra on forest bushfire management in Western Australia, in your most recent edition. I agree with the Bradshaw critique of Zylstra et al’s paper and I found Professor Zylstra’s defence to be unconvincing.

Following the critique of a research paper by Zylstra, Bradshaw and Lindenmayer “Self-thinning forest understoreys reduce wildfire risk, even in a warming climate,” by Jack Bradshaw, readers might be interested in some broader analysis of Mr Zylstra’s fire research work ... His research appears to be the base to advocate for what might be described as a wilderness approach to fire management across the broad Australian landscape.

Elders of Australian forestry temporarily reinstated sustainable fire management more than half a century ago, before a new generation of ecologists dismantled it. These new experts employ the Climate Cop-Out to explain the inevitable resurgence of pestilence and megafires. Now Forestry Australia is collaborating with them to ‘reimagine’ our future. To achieve this, they have to reinvent our past.

On the night of October 2nd, 66 citizen scientists surveyed for endangered Greater Gliders in native forest across Victoria. The state government has either released these areas of forest for logging in the current Timber Release Plan or plans to release them under the proposed Timber Release Plan (TRP). Surveys were carried out in six locations across the state: Toolangi, Black Range (near Taggerty), Warburton, Wombat, Alberton West, and Colquhuon forest, East Gippsland ... ARR.News ask KFF a few questions.

Our paper published in 2022 shows that, according to DBCA records, bushfires have been seven times more likely on land previously burned by them than on land that they have not burned. Mr Jack Bradshaw’s educated guesses about the causes of karri regeneration prior to 1850 do not change this, they use speculation to distract from the hard evidence we are discussing.

Launched at the 2022 Australian Farm Institute (AFI) Roundtable: ‘Cultivating ESG Capability’ in Canberra, a new online tool offers a practical resource for landowners and primary producers to navigate the tricky landscape of carbon choices ... The tool explains which carbon opportunities may be available for a producer and encourages users to consider the potential benefits and costs of different carbon projects for their farming businesses.

Macadamia growers could significantly reduce their labour costs in the future through new tree varieties that are shorter and enter production earlier. The Hort Innovation-funded national macadamia breeding program led by Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) has found one trait which produces a shorter tree variety and a second that triggers earlier nut production from young trees.

While on-farm deaths decreased in 2021, we must keep talking about farm safety to achieve our zero target as one life lost is one too many. Farm safety advocate Alex Thomas is continuing the conversation by changing the narrative and breaking new ground with her #PlantASeedForSafety initiative.

With wet conditions saturating large areas of crop production land across Victoria and Tasmania, a GRDC project is identifying ways to maximise crop performance when waterlogging occurs ... Applying nitrogen can help crops recover after being waterlogged, and looking at where waterlogging occurs when it is happening can help growers to plan improved drainage to prevent future waterlogging.