Colonial Conservation
A brief interruption to note a newspaper article I randomly came across in a Google search (via Trove), that is surprising as far as it goes in its conservation ethic. Forestry: Deforestation by “Eli Rhys”; The Queenslander 17 Dec 1921.
The principal causes of deforestation in Australia have been laid down by the Conservator of Forests, South Australia, as (1) the felling of trees for timber or fuel; (2) the grazing of forest land by stock, with its attendant evils of overstocking, bush fires, and ringbarking; (3) the clearing of scrub land for cultivation. Of these causes, the second is the most wasteful, and “the most ghastly and uncanny in its effects on the landscape.” What the Mohammedan conquerors did for Roman Africa in the destruction of forests lessened rainfall and shrinkage of streams; ringbarking and injury by stock threaten the same changes in Australia. Our richest and best watered areas contain extensive scrubs, much sought after by intending settlers, to be turned into wealth-giving farms. On plain lands and gentle uplands no evil results from this clearance, though want of judgment is often shown in failing to reserve belts of timber as wind screens, or clumps of tree, for the rest and protection of stock. Forests prevent the rapid disappearance of rain, and so check evaporation. One has only to recall the muddy condition of scrub roads, days after those in open forest are dry. Trees break the mechanical force of the storm, forming a shield to prevent the cutting up of the soil; they deposit leaves, twigs, shed bark and rotten wood, that absorb water like a sponge; and down the channels made by their roots the rain drains into the subsoil, leaving but a small amount for surface flow. The clearing of the steeper hillsides and summits produces very unsatisfactory results, whose action can be studied in Palestine and Spain, where the dessicated ranges have lost not only their forests, but their soil, and the rivers choked with sand and mud alternate between dry gullies and flooded valleys. The felling of trees for building construction and domestic purposes is a necessity, and it is only its abuse that calls for condemnation. Trees should be felled so as to leave the ground well covered by timber, and a sufficient quantity of mature trees should be left to ensure a plentiful supply of seed. Since the forest itself is our capital, no more should be cut than is equal to the annual growth, and thus a permanent supply is assured. Above all, the firing of hoop pine forest, after the marketable timber has been cut, should be prevented by heavy fine or forfeiture of the land.
Wow. They knew all this stuff even back then, and as now, chose to ignore it.
