IF YOU have ever thought about growing trees for conservation and profit, then now’s the chance to find out more with a series of courses scheduled for north-east Victoria and also West Australia?
The Australian Master TreeGrowers offers an eight-day, field-based, course for landholders interested in planting and managing trees for conservation and profit. The course was designed up by Rowan Reid in 1996 when he was an academic at the University of Melbourne. Since then there have been 85 courses involving more than 1800 landholders across Australia.
North-East Victoria MTG course
This course will be run in North-East Victoria for local farmers. The course is jointly supported by FFORNE AFG Branch and MTG Inc. Both are not-for-profit groups aimed at helping landholders establish and manage trees on their land for both conservation and profit.
Time & Place Topic & Activity
Every day includes lectures, workshops and field tours
DAY 1 –.Oct 22 Benalla Introduction, multi-purpose forest design
Rowan Reid, Farm Visits,
DAY 2 – Oct 29 Wangaratta Markets for tree & forest products & services
Carbon, Timber, Firewood, Bush Food and Biodiversity Plus sawmill visit
DAY 3 – Nov 5 Violet Town Tree and forest measurement
Tree, carbon and biodiversity assessment plus field exercise
DAY 4 – Nov 12 Taggerty Tree and forest growth and management
Planting, pruning, thinning and harvesting plus field tours
DAY 5 – 6 Nov. 18 – 19
Holbrook – Rutherglen Integrating trees into rural landscapes –
2-day tour to two outstanding farms (sheep, cows, fish, crops and trees)
DAY 7 – tba Integrating trees into rural landscapes – NE Vic
Trees for reasons that matter to course participants
DAY 8 – tba Final Day
Economics, planning and graduation celebration
Western Australia MTG course
The course is a joint project between the national not-for-profit Australian Master TreeGrower Program and the South West Branch of Australian Forest Growers with support from South West Catchments Council, Blackwood Valley Landcare Zone and the Department of Water
Date Location Main topics
Wed 6 Oct. Bridgetown Introduction, multi-purpose forest design, field visit
Wed 13 Oct. Manjimup Markets for tree & forest products & services, field tour
Wed 20 Oct. Bridgetown Tree and forest measurement, field exercise
Wed 27 Oct. Bridgetown Tree and forest growth and management, field trip
Wed 3 Nov Boyup Brook Integrating trees into rural landscapes (3, 10 & 17 Nov)
Wed 10 Nov Manjimup – inspections of participant’s properties and key regional
Wed 17 Nov Bridgetown Examples with invited specialists.
Wed 24 Nov Bridgetown Partners in farm forestry & friends of Master TreeGrowers
Landholders are invited to attend the first day for free before making a commitment to the course but we do ask that you register your interest and reserve your place as numbers are limited.
For more information contact Rowan Reid (mobile) 0409 609 939; [email protected]
