Subalpine regions struggle to recover after 2019-20 bushfires as eucalypt forests fare better

The Guardian by Lisa Cox 21 January 2021

Forests in some subalpine areas near Mount Kosciuszko and in Victoria’s East Gippsland region are struggling to recover from the 2019-20 bushfires, according to researchers examining the aftermath of the disaster.

But eucalypts in forested areas of the New South Wales south coast appear to be recovering well, say the scientists, who are tracking the sites using data gathered by groups of citizen scientists.

The Bushfire Recovery Project is a team of five scientists based at Griffith and the Australian National universities. It was formed following the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfire season – which burned more than 8m hectares – to bring together experts and community volunteers to produce data that might assist with the development of post-fire policy.

Citizen scientists have been tracking forest regrowth on the south coast near Batemans Bay and in subalpine woodlands near the NSW and Victorian border.

David Lindenmayer, of the Australian National University, is another member of the Bushfire Recovery Project. He said the resprouting occurring in areas along the south coast was “wonderful” but said the fires, combined with the effects of drought and logging, had taken a toll on wildlife such as the koala and greater glider.

But Lindenmayer said frequent fires in areas in recent years meant that trees being burnt were too young to produce seeds. “What it means is fires are burning young trees, which means there’s no seed rain from the canopy, which is how these trees regenerate,” he said.

“It’s burning through young trees that aren’t old enough to produce seed, so the system is dead.” Lindenmayer said there had been a huge effort in Victoria after the fires to collect seeds that could be used to re-establish forest in the worst-affected areas.

Justin Field, an independent NSW MLC and resident of the south coast, said it was a relief to see new growth in the region’s burnt forests “and the clean white trunks of big spotted gums that have now shed their burnt bark. But there are also large areas where the intensity of the fires was much greater, many large trees have now clearly died and the canopy has been entirely lost,” he said.

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