The single native tree, standing by itself in a paddock, is an iconic image of the Australian landscape.
These lonely trees are a reminder of what once existed before vast swathes of the country were deforested.
They provide shelter, habitat for insects, and act as stepping stones for wildlife as they move across the landscape, tree grower and conservationist Steve Murphy says.
“In a distant time, we’re going to lose them all because they’re not actually naturally regenerating,” Mr Murphy says, citing research conducted in the early 2000s by ecologists at the Australian National University.
For Mr Murphy, protecting the space around these “paddock trees” so they can regenerate is part of a bigger picture.
Steve Murphy’s ideas for landscape restoration are being trialled near Ballarat. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
Replanting to mimic nature
As a nursery owner who was growing trees for farmers to plant on their properties, Mr Murphy became concerned with the quality of the revegetation efforts he was seeing.
“Farm plantations that had been put in perhaps 20 or 30 years ago were already collapsing … they were providing very little shelter, they were needing to be replanted,” he says.
“I started to ask, ‘How could we make these plantations become sustainable, to behave like a natural part of the bush, where they just sustain themselves?'”
Given Australia’s abysmal record as a world leader of deforestation, biodiversity loss and mammal extinction, Mr Murphy’s question is a pertinent one.
What Mr Murphy settled on were a series of ideas landholders could follow to restore degraded land by planting wide corridors of endemic plants – from shrubs and grasses to tall trees – which would “mimic nature”.
Mr Murphy and Gib Wettenhall at the ImLal biorich plantation at Lal Lal, near Ballarat. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
The animals return
On the outskirts of Ballarat, volunteer group the Ballarat Region Treegrowers invited Mr Murphy to put his theory into action on a patch of bare, weedy land, owned by mining company Suvo Minerals.
The group wanted to demonstrate a forestry plantation that optimised biodiversity, secretary of Ballarat Region Treegrowers Gib Wettenhall says.
The ImLal site before volunteers began replanting it in 2010. (Supplied: Gib Wettenhall)
Mr Wettenhall and Mr Murphy walk through a reforested area of the Imlal plantation. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
Called the ImLal Biorich Plantation, it includes a small percentage of tree species planted to later remove for timber or firewood – something Mr Murphy encourages as he believes it could entice landowners to designate larger areas of land to revegetation.
Since its inception in 2010, wildlife abundance has been tracked through yearly bird surveys and Mr Wettenhall says motion sensor cameras have also found phascogales, feathertail gliders, sugar gliders and the occasional koala using the restored landscape.
A koala at the ImLal plantation in 2021. (Supplied: Imlal biorich plantation)
Mr Wettenhall’s small publishing press later released a book by Mr Murphy called Recreating the Country, which summarised the landscape restoration design principles he developed through his many years working in conservation – something he grew into after having trained as a geologist.
Biodiversity is key
Considering biodiversity when undertaking landscape restoration is crucial when attempting to tackle the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, says Patrick O’Connor, associate professor of environmental economics at Adelaide University.
Professor O’Connor has been researching market-based schemes that can optimise biodiversity conservation. Currently there is no national scheme in place, he says.
He warns that sometimes carbon storage is prioritised at the expense of biodiversity.
“If you’re trying to optimise carbon you may not plant that structural and diverse mix of species … that supports a much more complex, dynamic ecosystem,” he says.
“It’s often because you’re looking to sell the carbon to somebody else … so you’ll look for the cheapest place in the landscape to do that restoration.
“That won’t take the revegetation to places that are overcleared, where there are fertile soils, where the land values are high, where smaller revegetation patches can be very important in connecting up the landscape.”
‘As the years go by you get a bit more inspired’
Steve Donaldson on his property at Inverleigh. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
One of the case studies featured in Mr Murphy’s book is merino sheep farmer Steve Donaldson.
When Mr Donaldson took over his family’s 900-hectare farm at Inverleigh, near Geelong in regional Victoria, in the late 1990s, one problem loomed large: weeds.
“You’re constantly spending time to control [weeds] and I wanted to seek a permanent way of keeping it out,” Mr Donaldson says.
Initially, with help from Landcare, Mr Donaldson began fencing off areas of his land to revegetate with native species as a weed management strategy.
Mr Donaldson began sourcing plants from Mr Murphy who advised him on revegetation strategies.
“As the years go by you get a bit more inspired. I think what they’re saying might be good, so you take a few more chances and devote a bit more land,” Mr Donaldson says.
Twenty-five years after he started revegetation work, about 20 per cent of Mr Donaldson’s land is fenced off from stock and in the process of revegetating, he says.
Mr Donaldson says he’s set aside about 20 per cent of his 900 hectares to landscape restoration. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
“In recent years, I haven’t had to spray pesticides because I’ve got more flocks of birds around, which Steve said would happen,” Mr Donaldson says.
“So, this integrated pest management they talk about has become a factor as well, because I’m providing habitat.”
He says another unintended benefit has been financial. At a recent valuation of his property he was told the vegetation had increased the value of his farm by about 30 per cent.
Funding for revegetation can be inconsistent and hard to come by, Mr Donaldson says, and the work on his farm hasn’t progressed lineally but rather in fits and starts as money became available.
Current revegetation works on his farm are funded and coordinated by the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority.
Mr Donaldson says in recent years there’s been no need for pesticides. (ABC News: Rhiannon Stevens)
Less tangible but equally important to Mr Donaldson is the meaning growing forests and protecting native grasslands have given him.
“You think over your lifetime, ‘Well, yeah, I have done something, and it looks nice, it’s lovely to be here,'” he says.
“I just wanted to be able to see something at the end of my days that I’m really proud of, and you’ve got to be a bit innovative don’t you.”
Fostering the return of nature requires steely resolve, and Mr Murphy remains hopeful.
“In the big picture I see an Australian landscape where high-quality vegetation corridors have been re-established allowing wildlife to migrate as they have done for millions of years, and in that landscape I also see paddock trees re-established,” Mr Murphy says.
