Rowan Reid

What a truly marvellous book. I am so impressed by what has been achieved here. Heartwood is both an agroforestry manual, overflowing with really interesting science and knowledge and a social commentary. There is a strong message being put forward here and that is the message that growing trees is not incompatible with harvesting trees. I studied agricultural science many years ago and that included a semester of forestry. But, alas, things have changed, and what I learned as Cedrela Australis (Australian red cedar) is now known as Toona ciliata, var. australis and Eucalyptus maculata has become corymbia maculata......not even Eucalyptus any longer!
I might just say in passing that the book is beautifully written and edited. I found no errors or even typos nor problems of logic caused by earlier editing. Rowan Reid's prose style is, above all, crystal clear and concise and easily understood. He also manages to explain extremely clearly concepts such as geotropic and phototropic which I had long forgotten from my botany studies.
The basic chapter design is built around various species of trees and Rowan's experience with growing and milling them; his learning experiences along the way. But interwoven into this narrative he manages to bring in theories of pruning, planting densities, intercropping, formulas for calculating volumes of timber, milling techniques and so on.
Not is it all just technical. There is a human touch to every chapter; neighbours, students, visitors, family, experiences overseas are all swept up into the narrative to make it into a fascinating biography. You feel that you get to know Rowan Reid.
Clearly there is a debate happening in the community about the preservation of forests and trees and the professional foresters have found themselves somewhat on the back foot. (Not helped by the spectacular collapse of groups like Great Southern Group plantations). And Reid is a powerful voice for the farmer forester saying that it is possible to grow forests, to really care about trees, yet harvest them and mill them into valuable timber. In some ways there is a philosophical theme running though the book like the following view expressed by Noel Passalaqua..." You know, improving the landscape value gives you a better feeling about where you live. It's not something that you can value with money, it's just a feeling. It's where you live, and if it improves your quality of life, it's a great thing". In fact, my impression is that the straight economics of planting out forests seemed to be a fairly marginal thing if just considered on the return on investment just on the timber. But the various groups who have taken up the cause expounded by Rowan Reid seem to have accepted that there are externalities such as the "quality of life" mentioned above or, the beauty of the landscape, or the control of erosion and improvement in conditions for livestock.
I must also mention the design of the book. It is first rate. From the beautiful cover, to the great photographs and clear, interesting and useful diagrams. Each chapter ends with a technical summary section about some aspect of forestry such as; Hardwood sawing patterns, tree foliage for stock fodder......must say that I'd never considered silky oak as a potential stock fodder.
My initial interest in this book was piqued by the section on the red cedar. Somehow, my own dad's enthusiasm for red cedar had spilled over to me. He once came home with some pieces of red cedar that he had salvaged as they were being ripped out of what is now known as..the old mint building...and is now a museum. He was working in the courts there and the building was being renovated. Whole panels of red cedar were being loaded into the dump trucks. And once, he was given a huge piece of red cedar...about 10 cm thick from a friend in the Walcha area who...presumably had salvaged it from a tree on his own property. Anyway, I became a bit interested in red cedar and wondered why it was not being grown in plantations. But then learned about the Asian cedar tip moth...but also learned that it might be possible to grow the cedar tree in isolation. In my dad's declining years I bought a red cedar seedling and gave it to him. Alas there was no spark of interest...so I took to growing one in a pot on the balcony of my apartment in the inner west of Sydney. It grew remarkably well. So much so, that pretty soon I had to transplant it out into the bush around Sydney...where I hope it is growing fast and straight and has escaped the predations of the tip moth.
But it was fascinating to me to find that Rowan Reid had much the same sort of fascination with red cedar ...but was doing something more about it. He was growing real trees. I must say that I rather loved his line...which has obviously been repeated many times by tree planters that they were "planting for their grandchildren". Frankly, I was amazed at the size of many of the trees that he had grown within a 30 year time frame. The spotted gum on p260 being an example.
All in all, a lovely book, that I have enjoyed so much and from which I have learned so much. An easy five stars from me.… (altro)