The better side of disaster - Eyre Peninsula

By Leon Murray

I am a farmer at North Shields on Eyre Peninsula, 60 years on the land, who in the first 30 years of business knocked down every tree and shrub I could to make way for agriculture.

The next 15 years saw the folly of my actions unravel in the form of soil salinity, erosion and lack of adequate shelter for stock.

In the past 15 years I have been standing trees and shrubs up again. My son and I have used Trees For Life and Landcare to replant and regenerate lost vegetation to our advantage.Landcare subsidised direct seeding and fencing of sown areas as well as provided money for fencing of remnant vegetation (shelter belts). Trees For Life seedlings were planted among the remnants as infill.

In 2000 I fenced and seeded 50 acres of land and in 2004 the vegetation was from two to three metres in height. Main species were Sheoak, Sugar Gum, Golden Wattle and other indigenous shrubs.

Then disaster struck by way of the Black Tuesday Wangary January 11 2005 bushfire which almost obliterated all native species in its path.

Imagine how dejected I felt seeding a decade of plantings and remnant vegetation reduced to blackened sticks and trunks. Fencing was just a line of blackened wire. Insurance and Landcare took care of re-fencing and nature took care of revegetation. The National Australia Bank bought us our membership and trees for 2006. My son had been a member previously.

Within three months of disaster, regeneration slowly took place within my direct seeding and Trees For Life seedling plots and during the winter of 2005, we had a plethora of seedlings appear which had apparently been activated by the fire. We even had species germinate that I had not seen on my property for 40 years.

As a result of the 2005 disaster, in the few short years since, we now have scrub as I knew scrub 60 years ago. Kangaroos and birds have returned in numbers not known for 50 years, knowing that the lush, almost impenetrable new growth is a food source and affords them security from predators and for breeding. There are now ample hollow nesting logs where there were few before.

I sincerely thank Trees For Life’s volunteer growers for the part they played in performing the recovery of my property, and also the recovery of many other properties on Lower Eyre Peninsula.

I have now withdrawn from some of the chores of farming, but will never retire from the lifestyle. While the Landcare bucket has dried up, I and my son will continue to use the service of Trees For Life to fill as many corners and gaps as possible.

As with Trees For Life, I am proud of my commitment to the environment and recycling of CO2 in the quest to halt climate change and the eventual asphyxiation of life on this precious earth of ours.

I feel equally proud that I have attained and maintained a balanced environment of agriculture and native vegetation which will feed and protect generations to come, and I am ensured by my son’s involvement in this project so far that the tradition will ensure for generations yet.

Loyalty by Trees For Life and volunteers will also endure for generations, gauging by the enthusiasm of the past that has been exhibited for the protection of he environment and this great planet of ours.