Written by HMAQ member Gail Bruce
Queensland HMA members recently invited high profile UK born arborist and writer Cassian Humphreys to discuss the concept of naturaculture – land care mimicking nature.
Cassian believes a united approach is needed to address conservation issues currently faced by land-based professions such as arboriculture, horticulture and agriculture. Naturaculture would act as a network, bridging the different organisations that represent the professions.
Cassian came to Australia in the 90s to further his knowledge on Australian flora and land care systems. His focus is not just on trees but on all management systems and how they interact – or don’t interact. Here is an excerpt from his talk:
“The problem I see with arboriculture, and all the land-based professions, is that they are operating isolated from each other. Whereas in nature, there’s no separation; the tree is a part of an interacting eco system with all other species, organisms and plants. In many ways horticulture is at the centre because the focus is about creating gardens – a reflection of a beautiful eco system.
My wake up started when I read publications by Dr Alex Shigo – one in particular called “Troubles in the Rhizoshpere” which started me looking at the soil interface and how humans harmonise with it. The main problem – soil compaction and lack of air, leading to complete dissipation of all the natural parts and processes that facilitate optimum nutrient exchange.
We know that major diseases like Phellinus noxius are a side effect of monocultures and compacted soils. However, where we have species diversity in forest eco systems, none on these diseases are a problem as there are so many organisms out there to compartmentalise and balance things. Nature knows – there’s an intelligence there based on evolution. We can draw on that as a mechanism to create sustainable outcomes – creating soil food webs and producing compost.
One of my first experiences as an arborist was working over roof spaces and gutters – the best compost you could ever find! It’s always been my big question mark – how can we make that available to us? It’s not possible to have a large product in a plastic bag, everything needs to be small scale. In a temperate climate, where we have lots of leaf litter on hard landscapes, I would be bringing it back to a depot for harvesting and processing. It’s already hotwired to be a healthy compost product because it still has associated microbiology, it just needs to be reactivated. Why not turn the tap on and have it as a natural part of the garden eco system.
Instead of harvesting green vegetation that naturally super heats and becomes inert, we would be producing high grade compost; in nature all compacting systems involve cold processing. A number of facilities would be needed, the kinds we used to have for nursery production but for compost production. Unfortunately, the whole industry focus is on machinery and, until we can rely on industry, we need groups of people that want sustainable outcomes and are willing to invest in small scale operation for communities.”
In closing, Cassian expressed his desire to speak more on the Naturaculture principle.
PHOTO: HMAQ members enjoy an interesting discussion with arborist Cassian Humphries.
