Said Warren Tatter to Roger Barnett... 
 RB>Probably like most forest areas that fail to regenerate.
 WT> Speaking about forest areas that fail to regenerate......
 WT> What about the areas that do?
 WT> The power of nature is incredible and very much in evidence here.
 WT> It teaches the awesome power of nature and equally important,
 WT> the power of forestry.
Well, yes and no.
Yes, I'm sure both of us can find plenty of cleared areas that have come back 
to
life fairly well - my own property, having been mined, burned, cleared 
everal
times, mined again then burned again (in the space of a hundred years) is now
heading back to being an amazingly rich bio-diversity.  In fifty years time, 
if
I can keep ahead of the mass of weeds, it may even appear un-touched.
However, let's look elsewhere for a moment -- in East Gippsland, one of
Australia's few remnant forests, by the forest industry's own figures,
regeneration _failure_ is up at about 80%.  Needless to say, 'green' figures 
are
even worse than that.
And having seen failed regen' myself on plenty of occasions, I'd have to say
there's nothing more sorry than a hillside with no soil, a species or two of
tree and an incredible cover of foreign weeds and rabbits.
Rog.
... Features, features, glorious features.
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
--- Maximus/2 3.01
---------------