Trips down memory lane

[north-north-west]

Or the fact that we were the FIRST to walk along that ridge or that valley floor, we need the unexplored.

I'd bet my bottom dollar that there were Aboriginals along there more than once before you found it.

[SteveJ]

NNW, the little short attention span of modern man means that in this day and age time is measured in minutes mostly. It sad and laughable to think we have anything near an understanding of how old this place is and of all that has gone before us.

i was under the impression that annual burning ( even in a mosaic ) was the main reason that snowgums were not more widespread as the are absent from may areas where the net annual temperature is above 10C

Snow gums require cold stratification to germinate, this is main reason they are not more widespread.

The idea that anthropogenic impact on the environment led to the dominance (or restriction) of Eucalyptus species is wrong. The aridification of Australia started a loooong looong time ago in the middle Miocene.

“The aridification of Australia during the mid-tertiary period (25-40 million years ago), combined with the annual penetration of tropical convection storms, and associated lightning, deep into the continental interior stimulated the gradual evolution, diversification and geographic expansion of the flammable biota. The absence of great rivers or mountain chains meant that there were no geographic barriers to check the spread of fires. From the monsoonal 'cradle', fire-promoting species expanded into higher rainfall environments, where lightning was less frequent, gradually displacing the Gondwanan rainforest from all but the most fire-sheltered habitats.”

Taken from - Australia Burning: Fire Ecology, Policy and Management Issues, by Geoffrey Cary, David Lindenmayer and Stephen Dovers, 2003, CSIRO Publishing.

Steve

[north-north-west]

The only thing I can recall from 20 or 30 years ago that made bushwalking better was that I was 20 or 30 years younger, and everything was so much easier. Go back a bit further and we still had Lake Pedder. But otherwise . . . ?

I don't get the preference for cooking over a fire - it's hard and dirty work to clear a fireplace if there isn't already one, and collect firewood, get the fire going, keep it safe, and extinguish it properly. Cooking on it is slow and messy and inefficient. And it gets even harder in wet weather. Gathering brush for a mattress is also hard work, messy, and made considerably less pleasant by bad weather. It's quicker and easier all round to carry and use mats and stoves. And this is ignoring the environmental issues.
I suppose what you're saying is that ignorance really WAS bliss.

[gayet]

To each their own, but I like cooking over a fire. The fire may take a lot more work that a Jet Boil or any of the other variations but it serves many roles other than heat source for charring food. There's the warmth, the light, the visual component of staring into the flames, the camaraderie of others gathered around it....... The search for wood can draw your attention to details you may have overlooked if simply gazing at the wider vista. But yes the re are problems as well. Lack of due care and diligence in managing it, irresponsible collection of wood etc etc and it can be a cold awful dinner in Tasmanian rain without a backup plan.
Its not ignorance, but perhaps nostalgia?

[Moondog55]

I read "Australia Burning " when it was published I drew a different conclusion, based on the evidence there WAS a significant increase in ash and charcoal deposition about 45000 years ago which approximates the arrival of our first batch of immigrants.
Snowgums are much more widespread now than when I first visited Victorias high county, I found some seedlings in pretty Valley a while ago.

I'll rersearch the argument of Snowgum seed needing to be frozen to germinate but I think you may be wrong on that one as neither Blue Mallee or the very closley related Mallet need it

[SteveJ]

I'll rersearch the argument of Snowgum seed needing to be frozen to germinate but I think you may be wrong on that one as neither Blue Mallee or the very closley related Mallet need it

I did not say freezing I said cold stratification. Not sure why you are linking Snow Gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora), a sub alpine species, with Blue Mallee (which one?) from the Western district or Mallet (s) from Western Australia. These trees have no relationship to Eucalyptus pauciflora? Sorry I just don't see any link here? Snow gums regenerate from seed, epicormic shoots and from lignotubers, so thet are well suited to surviving fire so I am not sure what your point is regarding the impacts of burning?

Steve

[sailfish]

Are there any other things we could ad to the things the were ( Perhaps) better 20 30 or even 50 years ago as far as bushwalking was concerned

Well there weren't so many trail bikes buzzing about disturbing the peace and serenity not the mention scouring the rocks, creating confusing crisscross trails to nowhere and shedding bits of them selves as they go.
Ken

[north-north-west]

Snowgums are much more widespread now than when I first visited Victorias high county, I found some seedlings in pretty Valley a while ago.

The climate change that so many politicians deny we are having has been causing tree lines to lower and frost hollows to shrink for a fair while now.

[Moondog55]

Just in case you were not aware the Snow-gum and the Mallee are very closely related and that group is closely related to the Mallets, the sub group of Eucalypts that have a subterranean lignotuber, snow gums were very widely distributed during the last ice-age and found all over, there is a remnant population at Mt Gambier as well as one other place the location of which I forget.
Snowgums are not alpine or sub alpine at all merely more tolerant of colder temperatures

[Moondog55]

Well there weren't so many trail bikes buzzing about disturbing the peace and serenity not the mention scouring the rocks, creating confusing crisscross trails to nowhere and shedding bits of them selves as they go.
Ken

Yep That's one

[north-north-west]

Well there weren't so many trail bikes buzzing about disturbing the peace and serenity not the mention scouring the rocks, creating confusing crisscross trails to nowhere and shedding bits of them selves as they go.
Ken

I'll pay that.