Biobuzz - Issue five - Old Forests, New Management conference 2008

The Old Forests, New Management conference, held in Hobart in February, was a huge success and will influence forest policy in Australia for years to come. CRC for Forestry researchers from the Biodiversity project presented or co-authored 21 oral presentations and 29 posters.

The conference began on Sunday 17 February 2008 at the Bond Store, Hobart, with the recording of a special edition of the ABC radio's "National Interest" program, hosted by the ABC's Peter Mares. Entitled "Science, nurture and nature: the great forestry debate" the complete panel discussion and Q&A session are available here for download.

Steve Read, the Chair of the Biodiversity Project Steering Committee prepared a summary report for IUFRO that you can read here.

To read an overview of the conference written by the head of the Tasmanian Forest Practices Authority, Graham Wilkinson, refer to page three of Forest Practices News 8 (4) and see page one for Steve's contribution to this newsletter.

The conference abstracts are now available at the conference website and some presentations will be available in audio form in the near future.

Members of the Project Steering Committee may like to view a media report.

Conference visual diary:

The following photos give you an idea of the days at the conference, and the following field trip to the Warra Long Term Ecological Research site:

Arriving at the Government House reception, 18 February.	Getting to know each other at morning coffee time.
Conference delegates watching John Spence's presentation "EMEND: a comparison of natural and anthropogenic disturbance on a forested boreal landscape" (University of Alberta, Canada).	FFIC General Manager and conference committee member Sean Riley with Conference Secretary Debra Jones and Nathalie Sproule of Conference Design.
Argentinian delegates outside Government House with conference committee members Jayne Balmer (DPIW) and Fred Duncan (FPA).	Outdoor lecture at the Warra field day.
Simon Grove presenting at Warra with committee member Chris Beadle (CSIRO).	Michael McClellan of the USDA Forest Service Pacific  Northwest Research Station, Juneau, Alaska, at the Glover’s Bluff lookout, Warra, discussing his experience of silvicultural alternatives to clearcutting, against a background of a harvesting coupe in tall eucalypt forest.
Mark Neyalnd presents an overview of variable retention research at Warra.	One of the experimental coupes at Warra.