Author Description

Plantation forestry is an increasingly important land use in Australia, where industry and State and Australian Governments have all committed to establish new plantations across large areas of land currently used for agriculture. The Plantations 2020 Vision, launched by the Australian Government in 1997, has a strategy to enhance regional wealth creation and international competitiveness through a sustainable increase in Australia's plantation resources, based on a notional target of trebling the area of commercial tree crops by 2020. There are sound environmental and economic arguments in support of plantation development, but in this report we outline the potential hydrologic consequences that should also be recognised and understood when planning such ventures. Strategically located plantations can have positive hydrologic impacts on dryland salinity through their capacity to reduce groundwater recharge. However, at a time when our water resources are under great stress, it is essential that we anticipate and plan for the impact of afforestation on these resources. This report provides the scientific background to help land and water resource managers and the plantation industry better understand the effects of afforestation on catchment runoff and river salinity. Specifically, the report addresses:? How afforestation affects the volume and timing of runoff from catchments? How afforestation affects river salinity? How afforestation can be managed to minimise flow reductions and maximise river salinity reductions.