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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Madrone grows quite nicely under fir trees, they don't like irrigated land, 
do quite nicely where it is high and dry and is a native.  It makes better 
firewood than acacia.  So why not plant a native?  And, if you cut them down 
during the winter, the following spring new sprouts appear and you don't 
have to plant new madrones, they perpetuate themselves.

As to your fir trees, would you be talking Doug Fir or a real fir?  Doug 
Firs should net you at least $200/1000, minimum.  That would be, with the 
current diesel prices, a lot more than 10% of what the mills are offering. 
Closer to 50%.  I'd suggest you shop around.  Or are the mills and loggers 
up there a lot less honest than the ones down here?

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Jones" <billj AT harborside.com>
To: "Homestead mailing list digest" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 11:00 AM
Subject: [Homestead] "Non-Native Invasives" Useful in Permaculture (Part I)


> Us, to begin with.
>
> Actually I was talking about plants.  Here's a small list I typed up
> this evening.
>
> 1.  Acacia dealbata (Silver wattle)
>
> There are no natives that can be expected to persist here on high,
> unirrigated ground, other than fir trees.  The only particular value of
> fir trees, except to squirrels, is to sawmill owners who live forever.
> There won't be any production from a planting for many decades, and even
> if there were, the crooks will offer me 10% to take it from me.
> Furthermore, fir trees toxify the soil and prevent all but adapted
> plants from growing under them.
>
> That really only leaves acacia, the drought-tolerant plant that you can
> put on any dry hillside and expect to harvest _useful_ biomass in just a
> few years.  I'm planning to order 4 more for the front driveway edge
> today.  I wonder where, exactly, is it going to "invade" to from there?
> I'd be reluctant to give it access to water, which it has no need for
> anyway.