A blueprint for the design of sustainable landscapes
By Stephen Murphy

Published by Australian Forest Growers on behalf of Ballarat Region Treegrowers, Recreating the Country challenges landholders and land managers in general to consider new ways of thinking about how we might reverse the inexorable decline and disappearance of Australian plants and animals from rural landscapes. While integrating conservation and production has become the catchcry from foresters to dairy farmers, what can be practically done?

This book provides the 'stretch goals' and the blueprint for ways of adding habitat and designing more 'wildlife-friendly' properties. It's set to become the 'bible' for a new form of revegetation - the 'biorich plantation.' Integrated with other forms of vegetation, these would aim to enrich habitat potential across rural landscapes, not just for a lifetime, but in perpetuity.

Author Stephen Murphy asserts we have to rethink our revegetation strategies to match the sophistication of natural design principles. Stephen, with his wife Lina, has run a successful native plants nursery in central Victoria for over 25 years. He believes that even the most well-intentioned shelterbelts, Landcare plantings or mixed species farm forests lack the features to make them rich in critical habitat for wildlife, let alone capable of self-perpetuation for centuries to come. Pale shadows of a natural grassland, woodland or forest, they are destined to fail as a wellspring for native plants and animals.

At the heart of Recreating the Country are ten design principles, observed from nature, which set out to bridge the gap between farm forestry and environmental plantings and bring back the bush in rural landscapes.

To order, fill in the form [ ORDER FORM ] and submit by email, or print out and mail to:

Australian Forest Growers
29 Torrens Street
Braddon ACT 2612

On receipt of your order form and payment, we will post out your order with a tax invoice.

For free pdf download of the APPENDIX containing source material on the 12 reserves studied, click here.

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