Victoria Study Finds 30-Year Thinning Stores More Carbon, Grows Trees 20% Larger
Updated
Updated · SciTechDaily · Aug 21
Victoria Study Finds 30-Year Thinning Stores More Carbon, Grows Trees 20% Larger
1 articles · Updated · SciTechDaily · Aug 21
Summary
Thirty years after heavy thinning removed 50%–70% of trees in Victoria’s mountain ash forest, researchers found the stands had fully regained harvested carbon and matched or exceeded unharvested controls.
The thinned plots also produced much larger trees: the biggest were about 20% wider in diameter than trees in untouched areas, with some exceeding 1.5 meters across.
Those larger trees could better withstand future fire and are more likely to form hollows used by species such as the greater glider and Leadbeater’s possum.
Camera traps reinforced the habitat result: Leadbeater’s possums appeared in every treated plot surveyed, but not in the unharvested areas.
The findings from a long-forgotten experiment begun in 1987–1989 challenge the idea that timber production and conservation are mutually exclusive, while suggesting thinning is one tool rather than a universal fix.