Predicting Growth, Carbon Sequestration and Salinity Impacts of Forestry Plantations

Farm forestry is an increasingly important form of diversifying farm income and helping to deal with environmental issues including dryland salinity, global warming and climate variability. Here we briefly describe the development, use and spatial application of improved versions of the plantation growth model, 3-PG, to provide estimates of productivity and carbon sequestration as well as salinity impacts. Several forestry scenarios using eucalypt species and Pinus radiata were tested with application to the Corangamite Catchment in south western Victoria, Australia.