Patrick Dougherty Fights The Willow Invasion With Art

We have seen Patrick Dougherty and his art before. However, we didn't know that not only is Dougherty an artist, but he is also helping with conservation of the Australian landscape.

Australia is not without its invasive species and a large number of them are plants. Brought in to the country by European settlers, many of these species have come to threaten the local flora and fauna. One such species is the willow – a beautiful riverside tree but one which has clogged up Australian waterways for decades. Now, with the help of American artist Patrick Dougherty, Melbourne Waterways has come up with a novel approach to conservation.

While willows may be beautiful, even Whomping ones, they are a drain on the Australian environment and are out-competing native species of trees. Check out a great diagram and other photographs here.

-Via Presufer

Newest 1

Newest 1 Comment

This is very interesting, Brody. Where I live in the Pacific NW, we have these willows, we call them weeping willows, I think it's a cultivar. Here they are not invasive, instead they seem to grow large for about thirty or forty years then die. They do, however, provide a lot of cool raw material for crafts, including baskets and woven types of furniture. We're seeing less though, because most were planted during the '60s and '70s and they're well, dying.

Willows have also been traditionally used in an ancient, and presently, rediscovered, sustainable forestry practice called coppicing. I learned about coppicing not to long ago and I am pretty exited about it (after all, I'm from the Pac. NW. I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay and etc.)

Here's the WikiP link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppice

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

Login to comment.

Click here to view up to the first 100 of this post's 1 comments