As global warming and climate change continue to become top issues in Australia, multiple areas are experiencing an erosion or degradation of their native bush land. Bush regeneration is an important process aimed at restoring an area's natural vegetation through a variety of environmental processes.
The primary aim of bush regeneration is to protect the native biodiversity of a particular area and to provide a conducive environment for such vegetation to thrive.
A common challenge to native bush land is weeds that tend to overcrowd an area and compete with the vegetation for limited nutrients. These weeds tend to crowd the biodiversity of an area and to affect the overall health of local vegetation.
Preparing for Bush Regeneration
As previously discussed, weeds tend to be the biggest hindrance to bush regeneration attempts. Any technique needs to consider this risk and to create effective workarounds. This means that weed management should always go hand in hand with any process aimed at restoring an area's native vegetation.
The process should also begin by focusing on areas with a higher concentration of the native bush land and then gradually working towards the more weedy areas. The regeneration techniques should also be aimed at causing minimal disturbance to the native plants and soil in the area. And during land preparation, the vegetation should not be over cleared in preparation for the new bush land.
Additional considerations
Before the actual regeneration process begins, the following important points should be kept in mind:
Bush regeneration techniques
The Bradley method of minimal disturbance
The Bradley method is based on the principle of encouraging the native vegetation to become more resilient to weed invasion by self regenerating. The process involves clearing weeds in reducing frequency over time, allowing the vegetation to slowly adapt to dealing with the weeds. The goal is to eventually require weed treatment only once or twice a year as the local vegetation becomes more resilient.
Appropriate disturbance methods
A more modern method is the technique of appropriate disturbance. This involves using appropriate chemicals such as herbicides to offer additional support to native vegetation and to obtain more concrete results.
In areas of dry forest and grassland, additional disturbance methods such as soil disturbance can assist the bush regeneration process to proceed more effectively.
Share22 January 2018
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