Photo: Fairfax Graphics The irony might escape the uninitiated, but Bronwyn Petrie says thick clumps of eucalypts thriving on her Tenterfield farm do not mean the land is in rude health. To the contrary, the trees block the rain and draw up so much moisture that the earth is withering away. ''There is this big myth that trees save the soil, but we know it’s time to thin trees when we start losing ground cover,'' Ms Petrie says. However, laws protecting native bush mean not a single gum can be removed, she says. ''It’s an absolute joke. Our moral obligation is to care for that land, and we are being prevented [doing so] by perverse legislation. That is leading to adverse...
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