Thursday 9 June 2022
Photos courtesy of Amanda, Philip and Erika with past photos from Ian
Following last month’s failed attempt to visit the three areas of Monga’s rainforest, this revisit concentrated on entering only the largest patch. We used a new route through the surrounding regrowth scrub, proliferating after the catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire, and it yielded a perfect result – hardly any bush bashing.
Once under the remains of the Pinkwood (Eucryphia moorei) canopy, it was immediately clear the fire had burnt most of the rainforest causing significant damage.
It was a sorry sight. The general view through the area was of dead trees. Although some of the Pinkwood had relatively undamaged crowns, many were dead. Many had a killed crown but the stump is now shooting coppice regrowth. Although the coppice may eventually form a new tree stem (many decades) it will have to compete with the fast growing Brown Barrel (Eucalyptus fastigata) seedlings, prolific wherever a remnant has shed its seed load.
In stark contrast to our visit five years ago, the forest floor was no longer a mossy floored park land missing only elves and goblins but now littered with recently fallen trees. Much of the ground’s soft spongey organic layer had burnt.
Many of the previously scattered very large Brown Barrel remnants were now gone, burnt, fallen or killed. A few survive. We found two of our favourites – the “photo tree”, still alive, and the standing remains of the “hollow” tree, now a dead shell. We took photos for old time’s sake.
Our exit up the gully line to the north was a little more promising. This narrow strip of rainforest and tree ferns, although damaged, was still relatively intact. A few tree deaths and fallen trees have created some openings in the canopy but in other places, mainly in the wet gully bottom, the rainforest was still as lovely as it always was.
In summary, although the walk was interesting, seeing the fire damage was very disheartening. Approximately 90% of the rainforest burnt. Possibly 50% will eventually survive as rainforest but it will take decades before the Pinkwood canopy reforms. The other 50% will now become a eucalypt forest. The 10% which survived is mainly in the northern gully line, a reminder of what was here before.
In this one small area, an aesthetically pleasing and interesting ecological system, which took thousands of years to evolve at this place and, until very recently, a survivor of a prehistoric era, has now almost disappeared.
Ian