Sez Andrew,
(stirring the pot, wooden spoon and all, aware of my forestry background)
> Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:37:55 +1100
> That IS green! Well there's a bare hint of green which is more than
> we've got.
> Remember, summer is the dead zone. Native grasses die off. Growing
> season is spring and autumn. Australia is worse.
>>>> Brian, Pinus radiata is a weed, right?! <<<< !!
> Andrew Fildes
> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yeah, some weed :-)
Latest NZ figures on productivity
Contribution to GDP
Agriculture, $490/ha; Forestry (mainly P. radiata) $1,260/ha
Export earnings
Agriculture $1,030/ha; Forestry (ditto) $1,770/ha.
Are you still smoking a pipe? Then stuff that in it!! :-))
You have only to spend a week or two in NZ to see what an iconic tree this
transplant from California (where, geologically speaking, it is close to
extinction) has become. In the province where I live, radiata pine shelterbelts
are everywhere to protect the pastures and crops from strong winds -
*except* for dairy farms in the current rush to dairying where they pour on
water as if there's no tomorrow, and stuff the welfare of their cows in
inclement weather - they'll be off to the freezing works to be made into
sausages within a couple of years anyway.
They are major features of many of our highly modified landscapes, and
some botanic gardens and other places still have healthy specimens from
the first plantings, now pushing 140 years old. Massive trees. Stand next to
one of those and you realise what the word *tree* can mean.
Not forgetting its significant other contributions to soil protection and anti-
erosion measures.
Brian
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