Search

Mountain Journal

Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

Open Search
Tag

fire

The snow gums of Baw Baw

From Matt Tomkins.

This photo essay was originally published in the Mountain Journal magazine, 2025 edition, available here.

The last few winters I’ve become a bit obsessed with making trips to see the snow gums in  Baw Baw National Park.

Snow gums are beautiful trees. To see them at their best, you really need to be up there in winter. Streaked with incredibly vibrant reds, bronzes, oranges, and yellows and covered \with ice, their vivid colours and twisted forms stand out like flames against a snowy backdrop. It’s one of the most magical things about winter in the Australian Alps, and it’s a sight that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world.

I feel an increasing sense of urgency about making these trips.

Continue reading “The snow gums of Baw Baw” →

0

Planned burn in biodiversity hotspot

This summer has seen sustained community campaigns against specific fuel reduction burns, from Flowerdale to Gippsland. Now Friends of Bats and Habitat have raised the alarm about a large burn which is planned for the Mitchell River National Park.

Roaring Mag: There are so many redflags with this remote 1,875 ha Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) burn which is expected to be ignited within ten days in the Mitchell River National Park. A rapid desktop survey brings up a whole of suite of threatened, rare and endemic flora and fauna records within this burn site. Dropping off cliffs are waterfalls, sheltered narrow gullies, large areas of old growth forest, and the most southern occurrence of warm temperate rainforest … If you went looking for a Spot-tailed Quoll, this is where it might be.

Continue reading “Planned burn in biodiversity hotspot” →

0

A report from the snow gum summit

Each year it gets a little harder to ignore the impacts of climate change. For us mountain folk, the obvious signs are the more erratic winters, the dwindling snowpack, and the longer fire seasons that, increasingly, disrupt our summers.

Every natural ecosystem on the planet is being impacted by climate change. In the Australian high country, the two most obvious victims are alpine ash and snow gums. It is impossible to miss the walls of grey dead trunks and the thick and flammable regrowth as you drive up into the mountains from any valley town. Climate change is making our fire seasons longer and snow gums are increasingly being burnt beyond their ability to recover. Research from Latrobe University[1] shows that ‘long unburnt’ snow gums are now ‘exceedingly rare’ in the Victorian Alps, comprising less than 1% of snow gum forests.

And dieback is now killing thousands of trees. Dieback is a natural phenomena, caused by a native beetle. However, climate change appears to be ‘super charging’ the scale of the impact. This is because winters are shorter and warmer (meaning more beetles survive the cold months) and summers are hotter and drier (meaning trees are more water stressed and less able to produce the sap that acts as a defence against beetle infestations).

Continue reading “A report from the snow gum summit” →

0

Fire near Mt Howitt

Recent dry lightning caused a number of fires across the Victorian high country. Most were quickly contained but one just north of the Howitt Plains is becoming a concern.

This area, of high elevation snow gum woodlands inter-spaced with grass dominated plains, has been burnt several times in recent decades, with many areas now holding thick (and highly flammable) regrowth forests. Fires in these recovering forests can lead to ecological collapse – that is, the loss of snow gum dominated forests, which are replaced by grass and shrubs. It is essential that we exclude fire from these ecosystems as they recover.

Continue reading “Fire near Mt Howitt” →

1

A new fire fighting team for Victoria

On Tuesday November 12, lightning started a fire in remote country north of Valencia Creek in the Victorian high country.

On Wednesday November 13, two rappel crews from Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) were airlifted into the Avon Wilderness to fight the fire.

The crews created a mineral earth break around the fire and spent two days extinguishing hotspots before it was announced that the fire had been contained. In total the fire burnt around 1.3 hectares of forest. (Source: FFMV facebook).

This sort of early intervention is what is needed to stop small fires from turning into uncontrollable blazes.

Continue reading “A new fire fighting team for Victoria” →

0

Black Summer biodiversity study suggests rethink of prescribed burns and fire management in Australia

 

This is not ‘new’ news. But it does add to the conversation that is underway about the role of prescribed burning (also called planned burning and fuel reduction burning) in terms of reducing fire risk.  

A new study examining plant and animal species after the Black Summer fire season has found greater biodiversity loss in areas that have been subject to frequent burning. Six ecosystems were considered, including alpine, wetland, rainforests and dry and wet eucalypt forest.

Sites with three or more fires in the 40 years leading up to the 2019–20 Black Summer were far more negatively impacted than previously unburnt areas or sites that had burnt once during that time.

Continue reading “Black Summer biodiversity study suggests rethink of prescribed burns and fire management in Australia” →

0

What does the ‘State of the Climate’ report mean for mountain environments?

The biennial State of the Climate Report, which is produced by the CSIRO and BOM has now been released. The report draws on the latest national and international climate research, monitoring, science and projection information to describe changes and long-term trends in Australia’s climate.

Among a vast amount of information, there are some clear details relevant to mountain environments.

Continue reading “What does the ‘State of the Climate’ report mean for mountain environments?” →

0

Have your say: the Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land

The Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) is updating the Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land (the Bushfire Code), and is calling for  feedback on the draft Code.

The Bushfire Code sets out objectives for the way DEECA manages bushfire on public land, including state forests and national parks.

The current Bushfire Code is more than 10 years old. It updating it to make sure it meets modern needs and expectations.

There is an online submission process which is open until November 3.

Continue reading “Have your say: the Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land” →

0

Dancing and the Devil Fire – understanding the long First Nations history in the Alps

Recently a friend sent me a copy of a DVD called Dancing and the Devil Fire. It was made after the terrible fires that happened in the Alps over the summer of 2002/3, when an estimated 1.7 million hectares of forest and high country was burnt.

In the aftermath of the fires, an extensive program was established to better understand the archaeological history of indigenous settlement in the high country. Many First Nations people were involved in the surveys that followed. What they found re-wrote mainstream understanding of Indigenous occupation of the high country.

Continue reading “Dancing and the Devil Fire – understanding the long First Nations history in the Alps” →

0

State of the Environment report highlights threats to pencil pine forests

The mountains and wetter forests of lutruwita/ Tasmania are a stronghold of ancient vegetation that dates back to when the Australian continent was part of the mega continent of Gondwana.

We know that these areas of fire sensitive vegetation are at risk from changing fire regimes. We also know that climate change will bring ever more serious fire seasons, putting these remnant vegetation communities at greater risk.

The Tasmanian Planning Commission has just released the 2024 State of the Environment (SOE) Report, which, among many issues, highlights the threats posed to fire sensitive communities like the king billy and pencil pines.

Continue reading “State of the Environment report highlights threats to pencil pine forests” →

0

The Bayindeen fire and Snow Gum forests at Mt Cole

Snow gums (generally E. pauciflora ssp. Pauciflora) are the iconic tree of the Australian high country. While they are best known for their dominance of higher elevation areas in north eastern Victoria and the Snowy Mountains of southern NSW, it grows in woodland along the ranges and tablelands, in cold sites above 700 metres, in a long stretch from the far south-east of Queensland, through New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria, to near Mount Gambier in South Australia and Tasmania.

Snow gums also exist as isolated pockets well away from the higher mountains. For instance there are 53 known remnant Snow Gum sites within a 40 kilometre radius of Ballarat, Victoria. A  large proportion of remnant vegetation in the area occurs as small patches or isolated paddock trees, often on private land.

However there are also some important Snow Gum forests on public land in central and western Victoria. A well known example is on the upper slopes around Mt Macedon. Although these forests were impacted by the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, the Mount Macedon Snow Gum population have been assessed as being in relatively good health (despite a recent proposal to clear some sections of the forest around the Memorial Cross at Mt Macedon)..

There is also a really important community of Snow Gums growing across the higher hills of the Mt Cole state forest.

Continue reading “The Bayindeen fire and Snow Gum forests at Mt Cole” →

1

Protect Our Winters report: Our Changing Snowscapes

We have known for years that climate change is reducing the overall amount of snow we receive in Australia. The snow pack has been in decline since at least 1957. We also know that the loss of snow is being felt especially at lower elevations and will have enormous impacts on the local economies that have developed around the mountains.

Today Protect Our Winters (POW) have released a comprehensive update on the threats posed by climate change – to snow pack, the mountain environment and animals who rely on a thriving ecosystem, and downstream rivers, and also the impacts on the local economies that rely on good snowfalls.

Continue reading “Protect Our Winters report: Our Changing Snowscapes” →

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑