The bushfires of 2019 in Australia were horrific. They burned a bigger area and were more intense than any in history. They are seared into the memories of all Australians, and everywhere we went on our recent visit there was shocking evidence of them. The bush has not recovered and dead trees are visible from the mountains to the coast. In alpine regions they burned an area that was just starting to recover from fires 16 years earlier.
Bushfire damage, Snowy Mountains, New South Wales. Northern Hemispherians please bear in mind that Australian forests are evergreen and this photo was taken in late spring.
Some areas are lucky and have lovely tree ferns. They are the first to recover after a fire. These are on the Mount Darragh Road, New South Wales.
4 comments:
Mt Wellington in Hobart still has dead trees from the 1967 bushfires. (Obviously a lot have fallen, but some still remain.)
The damage of these fires has been intense. I recently had a student-led presentation on them in my Biodiversity class. Insane. I saw some vast areas of recovering beech forest in Eastern Europe this summer. The standing charred stems just make it so eerie in a way...
Robin: Great that your students are informed about these fires. Australian forests have evolved to recover from fire but the 2019 fires were next level!
Robin: Great that your students are informed about these fires. Australian forests have evolved to recover from fire but the 2019 fires were next level!
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