The evaluation of different seedbed preparation techniques for the regeneration of dry lowland forests in Tasmania after partial logging

Abstract

Summary During the 1970s and early 1980s the clcarfell burn and sow silvicultural system was seen as the best means of replacing the previously degraded stands in dry lowland forest in Tasmania with a vigorous rcgrowth forest. During the 1980s a number of problems were experienced in obtaining adequate regeneration on some of these dry forest coupes. In 1991 and 1992 a series of experimental trials was established in order to determine the most satisfactory method of seedbed preparation that would ensure adequate regeneration in an area considered as ‘typical’ of the dry lowland forest of the cast coast of Tasmania. A variety of seedbed preparation techniques was used in association with a seedtree partial logging system. These included pre—or post—harvest burning, pre—or post—harvest cultivation, and normal logging disturbance. The results indicate that pre-harvest cultivation is the most effective treatment as measured by the fraction of plots stocked and density of seedlings. The cost of pre-harvest cultivation compared favourably with that of both the post-harvest cultivation and the pre—or post-harvest burning treatments.