Two recent cornerstone restoration projects in the southern hemisphere illustrate how Lord of the Trees prioritizes a region’s history, characteristics, and water needs, then develops achievable near- and long-term goals with our partners. Scroll through to get a sense of the types of forestry and ecosystem restoration requirements that Lord of the Trees can support, monitor, and manage.
Two recent cornerstone restoration projects in the southern hemisphere illustrate how Lord of the Trees prioritizes a region’s history, characteristics, and water needs, then develops achievable near- and long-term goals with our partners.
ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
FORESTRY PROJECT IN AUSTRALIA
From our home in Australia to Indonesia and beyond, we’re continually working on new projects to restore deforested areas across the globe.
Find out more about our current Australian project, our conservation goals, and the results we’re achieving in partnership with the Auria Forestry Project of Western Australia.
FORESTRY PROJECT IN SUMATRA
The recovery of these ecosystems that over time have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed need your support. We acknowledge the amazing work on the ground from a number of stakeholders in its biodiverse restoration we partner with.
Learn about our work with the Orang Utan Republik Foundation of Sumatra.
REFORESTING WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Most of Western Australia (WA) is classified as ‘arid’ or ‘semi-arid,’ with rainfall as low as 100mm a year.
By contrast, Melbourne
has five times that total, and New York over 11 times as much.
Location
Just over 100 kilometres to the north east of Perth, the Central Wheatbelt is 154,000 square km of small towns, farmlands, rolling hills, and desert.
Our project encompasses 242 hectares (600 acres) of degraded land in a semi-arid region with little annual rainfall. Once home to a healthy range of trees and fauna, it has been rendered almost bare because of settlement mistakes made more than 100 years ago.
With extensive research, Auria Forestry Research has determined that reforestation was the best option.
Project field partner :
Auria Forestry Research Project
Goal :
To recover degraded land and reverse the spread of desert with innovative techniques and technologies such as drones, AI, and robots.
Backstory : an easy mistake
Today, the red soils of WA are among the most impoverished on the planet, yet – incredibly – trees once flourished here. The reason they disappeared? A simple mistake made by 19th-century settlers.
As every schoolkid knows, you can work out a tree’s age by counting the rings in its trunk. That’s because there are periods of strong summer growth and winter dormancy every 12 months. So, a tree with 20 rings must be 20 years old, right?
Not here !
In WA, with moisture so limited, a single rainfall can lead to a burst of rapid growth, followed quickly by inaction. This means a tree can have as many as 10 growth rings in a single year.
In 1850, when settlers counted the number of rings, they wondered why a tree that appeared to have been around for so many years was so small, not realizing that its true age was actually much younger than its number of rings.
As a result, the new inhabitants declared the trees grew far too slowly to supply all the timber they needed. So, they proceeded to chop them down and replace them with traditional logging trees from Australia’s eastern states.
But the new trees weren’t impressed with their new home and refused to do much in the way of growing.
REFORESTING PROJECT IN SUMATRA
Location
Degraded forest in and around Gunung Leuser National Park (SPTN V Bahorok) administratively located in Batu Jonjong – Sopo Padang Village, Bahorok District, Langkat Region, North Sumatra. The overall national park covers 950,000 hectares with 40% of the park in mountainous regions over 1,500 meters in elevation. The Park is part of the Leuser Ecosystem and is surrounded by a several kilometer buffer zone that provides a gradient between totally protected land (national park) and intensively used land.
Project field partner :
OURF/Yayasan Sumatra Hijau Lestari (YSHL) or Sustainable Green Sumatra Foundation.
Goal :
To support the restoration of indigenous trees within this vital ecosystem to serve in the protection of the watershed and habitat for numerous endangered species, including orangutans, siamangs, tigers, and hornbills.
Conservation value
Forest ecosystem recovery or restoration activities aim to restore the land’s structures and functions according to or close to the initial conditions. In this case, we are restoring the native forest communities and buffer zone functions that existed before deforestation occurred.
Biological benefits that buffer zones provide include providing a filter or barrier against human access and illegal use of the strictly protected core zones or conservation area; protection of strictly protected core zone or conservation area from invasion by exotic plant and animal species; providing extra protection against storm damage, drought, erosion and other forms of damage; extending the habitat and thus population sizes of large, wide-ranging species in the protected area (Sayer, 1991).
Innovative forestry methods have been developed to enable trees to be established successfully and economically in this hostile environment. By implementing some very simple and logical techniques, this can now be achieved consistently.
Threats
The original forest ecosystem has been lost due to deforestation. Local farmers have historically converted forested portions of the buffer zone and/or encroached into the national park and planted cash crops such as rubber and oil palm. These are direct threats to the forest and local ecosystems, that endanger all flora and fauna species, some already in danger of extinction.
Trees
We have chosen primarily endemic trees that enhance the greatest overall benefit to this region. These tree species are selected specifically to represent those from the reference forest near the restoration area Parkia speciosa, Archidendron pauciflorum, Durio spp., Shorea spp., Syzygium polyanthum, Ficus spp., Litsea irianensis, Canarium grandiflorum.
Actions & results
Our partners. YSHL, are negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Forestry Department regarding monitoring and tree-planting activities in Gunung Leuser National Park. This MoU is used as a legal umbrella in the implementation of their activities in the area of Gunung Leuser National Park.
Targeted tree planting activities leading to forest and buffer zone restoration will be carried out in collaboration with the forest farmers groups within this region of N. Sumatra. Specific regions will be selected and a plan of tree planting activities will be scheduled within the work plan of YSHL’s Community Education and Conservation Program (CECP). OURF will administer the funding to YSHL over the next 5 years.
CLIENTS AND PARTNERS
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE
Whether your government agency is responsible for a rainforest, tropical deciduous forest, temperate, broad-leaved deciduous trees, or a coniferous landscape, we have the expertise and experience to make regrowth happen faster and at a fraction of the usual cost. When state or federal governments either rebuild areas devastated by deforestation or create an entirely new habitat, they’re not only mitigating the effects of climate change, they’re enhancing the lives of their citizens. It’s perhaps the greatest legacy that can be left for future generations.
Chronosequencing
‘Chronosequencing’ is the term used to describe how a degraded area gradually turns back into a robust, wooded ecosystem. Some pioneer plants will rapidly take hold and start to change the landscape by altering soil composition and light saturation, determining what life can thrive.
Our planting strategies are based on years of scientific research into the symbiotic relationship between species, the timing of each phase of germination, and seasonal considerations.
We consult with experts to gain knowledge about local conditions and cultural considerations and, so far, have achieved efficiencies that are unmatched in the industry. The actions that countries and states take to preserve the environment have never been more in focus. Lord of the Trees is ready to help you succeed.
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
We can help you reduce your planting costs and increase sustainability. Our groundbreaking drone technology will boost your business’ yields, improving
crop output, reduce the need for pesticides, and help you realistically achieve more sustainable farming.
Lord of the Trees’ innovative drone technology is the result of years of practical experience and will help you develop a sustainable farming
operation and soil conservation plan, offering the ultimate balance between precision, efficiency, cost, safety, and sustainability.
With faster planting capabilities and the ability to work day and night in any environment, our drones can provide faster, more flexible planting and precision
spraying for dozens of different crops, bringing significant cost efficiencies and slashing labor hours.
We can discuss and create a plan with you to address:
- trends toward more sustainable soil management
- the establishment of wildflower corridors that attract pollinators, birds and beneficial predators that prey on harmful pests
- restoring your land’s biodiversity, reducing the need for spraying and increasing yields with a minimal loss of crop space
We know that the world is facing unprecedented challenges and farmers are scrambling to respond to increased consumer demand for organic, environmentally
friendly practices, while at the same time coping with the devastating consequences of climate change.
Flooding, bushfires, droughts and changing rainfall patterns have had a brutal impact on the entire industry from small, family farms to vast industrialized
agricultural corporations.
Contact us today, and we’ll demonstrate how accurate mapping and a holistic approach to year-round land management will bring a multitude of direct benefits.
MINING INDUSTRY
We can help accelerate the restoration of your mining sites, quickly and efficiently revegetating and restoring it to a robust, healthy ecosystem, for a fraction of the costs associated with planting by hand.
Much of the world’s mineral and energy resources are found in forested or other natural areas that have to be cleared before operations and extractions can commence.
After the extraction is completed, returning an area to its former state is a costly and time-consuming investment, particularly on remote or difficult terrains.
Lord of the Trees’ proprietary precision planting drone technology means vast mined landscapes can often be repaired and replanted with substantial savings over hand-planted methods.
We can help map out in detail the land you need to restore or reforest and use this first-hand analysis to provide recommendations for re-establishing native grassland and trees.
We combine 18 years of research with a team of experienced scientists and forestry experts who utilize the Forestry Reclamation Approach and work within established regulatory frameworks, allowing for variations in habitats and types of trees.
Our guiding principles include:
- Reconstruction modelled on the natural ecosystems of the area and involve a suitable diversity of fauna to ensure long-term success.
- Facilitation of strong root systems with detailed soil analysis and the use of organic supplements as necessary.
- Careful selection of a diversity of tree species based on topography and climate conditions, while encouraging natural regeneration as much as possible.
- Utilizing direct placement of forest floor material combined with our unique seed pod technology to rapidly re-establish native species.
- Selective on-going management to monitor progress and take additional action where necessary.
