Scientists warn NSW tree-planting scheme does more harm than good – “The main goal of the project is to actually plant as many trees as you can fit into the ground”

By Jonathan Hair
26 May 2019

(ABC News) – There are fears national parks in NSW are being damaged by a revenue-making tree-planting scheme, after revegetation works were carried about in the Capertee National Park.

About three hours’ drive west of Sydney, Capertee National Park was a working cattle property until 2010, when it was purchased by the State Government and turned into a protected area.

But because of overgrazing, the National Park and Wildlife Service (NPWS) ordered habitat restoration works there.

The project was carried out by a company called CO2 Australia, which used heavy machinery to plough terraces into the hilly landscape and planted lots of native trees closely together.

The outcome has worried scientists, including ecologist Deb Stevenson, who has previously worked for the NPWS.

“The trees are too close together,” she said.

“They haven’t planted much understory and basically it’s going to end up looking like a plantation, a forest plantation.

“It looks to me like a revegetation project that they might do on a very degraded mine site … which isn’t what it is.” […]

CO2 Australia said concerns about overplanting were addressed in the project’s design, which allowed for the natural die-off of some trees.

The Capertee National Park is one of the few places in Australia where the critically endangered regent honeyeater breeds, adding to concerns about the planting scheme.

“This park supports a great array of threatened woodland animals and plants,” said ecologist Debbie Andrew, another former NPWS officer.

“The densities of the trees being put into the ground — 800 trees per hectare — is far in excess of what the CSIRO recommends of 30 mature trees per hectare.” […]

Some scientists are worried the projects are more about making money, not helping the environment.

“The main goal of the project is to actually plant as many trees as you can fit into the ground,” Ms Andrew said. [more]

‘Revenues not restoration’: Scientists warn NSW tree-planting scheme does more harm than good