Living on the edge—the development of silviculture in South Australian pine plantations

Summary South Australia has one of the world's oldest man-made forests based upon classical sustained-yield management and funded totally from loans. Necessity to augment scarce local supplies of timber, in a climate “not naturally conducive to tall forest growth”, was realised over 120 years ago. The development of silviculture, from species selection and marketing factors through extensive, low cost practices into the current, highly intensive ones, is reviewed historically. A number of crises have been resolved and each has led to a greater understanding of silvicultural potential. Philosophical considerations that have inspired the development of silviculture to capture much of the great potential shown by the principal commercial species, Pirtus radiata, include a review of the scarce resources that have to be met by forest managers. A strongly-sustained demand for local supplies of timber and a limited land base support the continuation of intensive development in the future. This envisages conservation of site-based resources augmented by legume culture and judicious use of fertiliser mixtures. Safer formulations and more efficient supply systems allied with site-specific silviculture and vigorous application of tree-breeding are likely to lead to further refinement of silviculture.