ABSTRACT
The island state Tasmania in Australia is famous for wilderness, tall forests and unique wildlife. Forest management and timber production is an economically important industry, but one which is highly politicized and subject to bitter conflicts between the timber industry and environmental groups. Perhaps in part because of unusually high levels of public scrutiny, forest management practices in Tasmania have long emphasized environmental outcomes along with timber production. Tasmania was the first Australian state to have a Forest Practices Code, and research and adaptive management, along with politics, result in continued refinement of management practices. Whilst not necessarily intended, many aspects of Tasmanian forest management, especially as practised on public lands, are prime examples of practices that meet many of the criteria of managing native forests as complex adaptive systems. This overview will describe a variety of different management strategies (summarized in Box 12.1) used to illustrate practical application of many of the principles of complex adaptive systems. Most of the examples are taken from state forest managed by Forestry Tasmania. Some approaches to managing Tasmanian native forests as complex adaptive systems
A large proportion of forests is reserved at multiple scales via a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative reserve network. This favours cross-scale interactions and promotes other characteristics of complex adaptive systems including heterogeneity, diversity, resilience and adaptability.
Regeneration burning as part of site preparation provides seedbeds for species adapted to natural wildfire, creating variable and heterogeneous forest structure and composition. Burning in some forest types helps management of threatened species and reduces wildfire risks. Burning in fire-adapted forests maintains and enables adaptation of species and ecosystem processes.
Non-intensive silvicultural practices limit the degree of homogenization in regenerating stands. Herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers are not used, and no subsequent tending other than occasional thinning is done following tree establishment, allowing self-organization to occur.
Instead of planting, locally collected seed is aerially sown. Seed zoning guidelines ensure maintenance of genetic diversity and therefore adaptability.
Practices aim to maintain structural and compositional heterogeneity across spatial and temporal scales. Variable retention is used in place of clearcutting in the majority of harvested wet old-growth forests.
Strategic planning for wood production and biodiversity considers species habitats and landscape-level maturity and connectivity, shifting the emphasis from coupe-level to planning across various scales.
Emerging approaches to mitigating climate change impacts and increase adaptability include seed banks, identification and protection of refugia and restoration of connectivity corridors, as a way to deal with the increasing uncertainties caused by global change.
