When it comes to re-establishing rainforest on the range don’t forget the fast growing but short lived pioneers. Pioneers are the “live fast, die young” members of the plant world. They quickly pop up in areas of disturbance, such as when a large tree has fallen and provide the rapid cover and shade.Using pioneers in your revegetation plantings helps you to quickly “capture” a site (i.e. reduce competition from weeds, improve humidity, wind protection and soil improvement). The protection and microclimate created by the pioneers then dramatically improves the growth of your mature phase trees and shrubs, that although slow to start off with, will eventually provide the long term forest cover for your site with some trees living in excess of a thousand years. The pioneers however will be lucky to make it to fifty years with many lasting between five and ten years.Our local rainforest pioneers include species such as the Bleeding Heart (Homalanthus nutans), Macaranga (Macaranga tanarius), Native Mulberry (Pipturus argenteus), Poison Peach (Trema tomentosa) and Celery wood (Polyscias elegans). Not only are these fast growing species that can achieve at least a metre (if not two) of growth per year, they are also prolific fruit bearing trees that not only provide quick physical habitat for wildlife but also lots of food! This is of course not a purely altruistic offering from the pioneers, as the more their fruit is eaten, the more chance they have of spreading their seed across the landscape and reproducing themselves, which is very important when you have such a short lifespan. Also many pioneers are readily gobbled up by a range of insects, which again kicks the food chain along nicely by providing a host of food for insectivorous birds.Pioneers can be planted at relatively tight spacing of 1.5 to 2 metre centre’s to provide rapid cover on your revegetation site, but basically any spacing up to 4 metres is better than none. Closer spacing will provide quicker cover and save you time when it comes to weeding your revegetation site.One much maligned pioneer of our rainforests is the Black Wattle (Acacia melanoxylon). These are fast growing, hardy and can provide good firewood and beautiful timber. An example of how hardy they are is that they are the only trees that have popped up by themselves in our old paddocks, when we have removed cattle and provide quick cover without any work needed.Pioneers are great for kick starting ecosystems, planting pioneers means more food for the birds, more shade, less carbon in the atmosphere, cooler temperatures and most importantly, more time for you to enjoy life – preferably on a verandah with a cool beverage overlooking your planting!
Rainforest pioneers
