Fire alerts and track closures

[stepbystep]

Is that a tiny patch of green a piece of unburned cushiongrass in picture 1 Dan?

I wonder it it's possible to replant some of the native pine from seed stock that has survived. If we can keep at least the parts of peat that have not burned then we could have island communities that can spread as they are able.

That's a question I walked away with, and don't know the answer to. The cushionplant one that is.... as for pines, Artichoke Valley was replanted with KBP after that fire with little to no success. I suspect the peat burned down a long way sadly...

[north-north-west]

Is that a tiny patch of green a piece of unburned cushiongrass in picture 1 Dan?

The mounds require a degree of structural integrity to survive. Even if a small patch of the individual plants in a mound don't burn, they're unlikely to last through any sort of temperature extremes or more extended dryness.
That's part of why treading on them is such a big no-no. One step might not appear to do much damage initially, but it can eventually destroy the entire mound.

I wonder it it's possible to replant some of the native pine from seed stock that has survived.

They've tried with King Billy seedlings elsewhere. The things just don't seem to take. Requirement for seed and seedling survival are obviously more complex than is generally realised.

[aloftas]

Thanks SBS for the report and photos.
It needs to sink in.
Doing nothing, is not the answer. Doing nothing, is good for a mid life crisis, for an argument and for saving cash.
Doing nothing, in this case, speaks of neglect and a complete lack of foresight.

I am drawn toward parallels with th eLord of The rings, we are the hobbits, we DONT want to leave our holes, but we have this annoying wizard on our broomsticks telling us the Shire is in trouble

The shire is in deep trouble


A couple of thoughts.

Why not, a mobile helicopter transported, diesel driven pump station to use an 1" 1/2 nozzle from some portable tower on all these dams/lakes tarns?

Who here has seen the destructive force of an inch and a half jet of water at 150 psi?


Sploooosh....


Where are the D9's cutting a 1 kilometre per hour swathe in a back wind situation?


Why not some heat analysis big bore water tanker to takle out these fires with a physical barrage of water.(Ask an irrigator)


Why not some acceptance that "prepositioning assets" is akin to sitting on ones ar se.


Why not some outrage and a call for accountability?

Sure its only 1 % of the alpine heritage area...


It matters.


Thank God for the seed bank, some nursery men who carry the stock, and please


Mr Hodgman...

Get real

F F S

[aloftas]

I guess another way of getting a perspective ( and here I must say I was very wrong in claiming 25mm per day evapotranspiration rate...more like 4.5-6 or so, but still..."things change", is the intuit there) is to ask, how would Sweden, Canada or any country that actually valued the wilderness for its inrisnic values (ie World Heritage)

Would they have these festering ideological debates?

Or would they Act?

[north-north-west]

The people with the power to act (the government) aren't interested. They really don't care about the wilderness. They see it as a potential cash cow and nothing else.

As for the debates - what do you suggest that the debaters (ie: us) do?

[aloftas]

The people with the power to act (the government) aren't interested. They really don't care about the wilderness. They see it as a potential cash cow and nothing else.

As for the debates - what do you suggest that the debaters (ie: us) do?

learn to get along and form a REAL political party/force/lobby group.

That^

Last edited by aloftas on Mon 01 Feb, 2016 9:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Overlandman]

Nice to see Coulsons T132 Hercules air tanker at Launceston airport today.
Also noted a large Sikorsky S61 heading towards the North West.
They are on loan from NSW Rural Fire service
There is a link to a story on the Hercules with a few photos

Hope they make a difference

Regards OLM

http://fireaviation.com/tag/australia/

[grant evans]

If these alpine regions are to sensitive to burn, even in the cooler months leading into summer, if there are no access roads which there aren't, then given the right conditions, warm dry Spring, hot dry summer, then are they not just a wildfire waiting to happen. A lightning storm or a careless campfire from burning. One could be right in assuming that over time, perhaps a century or two, that it will all one day burn. If this event have of happened, say three hundred years ago, before European settlement, who or what would have stopped the fire?

[Overlandman]

Rain and snow.

[north-north-west]

These areas are normally too damp for a lightning strike to ignite, or for a fire to spread far if it does ignite. But things have been so dry . . . The last year or so has been a lot drier than usual. I was in many places during the spring that were drier than in the middle of last summer.

We know there haven't been fires for a very long time in some of these areas simply because the vegetation does not survive fire, does not regenerate after fire, and is extremely slow growing. When you have mature native pines that are as much as 1500 years old, you know there can't have been a fire there for a lot longer (like, thousands of years, possibly since the last glaciation).

As an aside, campfires are banned throughout our National Parks and (I think) in the WHA.

[Overlandman]

Overland track to re open Wednesday

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-01/t ... es/7131438

Print Email Facebook Twitter More
Tasmanian fires: Crews expected to gain upper hand with favourable conditions forecast
By Ted O'Conner
Posted 34 minutes ago

Tasmanian firefighter douses flames in the state's north-west.
PHOTO: Tasmanian firefighter douses flames in the state's north-west. (ABC News)
RELATED STORY: Firefighters take advantage of better conditions across TasmaniaRELATED STORY: 'This is system collapse': Fire ravages world heritage areaRELATED STORY: Rain in Tasmania helps and hinders crews battling bushfires
MAP: TAS
Tasmanian firefighters expect to make considerable progress on more than 50 blazes burning out of control in the state's west and north, with favourable conditions forecast for the coming week.

Tasmania Fire Service acting deputy chief officer Jeremy Smith said today was extremely productive with clearer skies enabling more remote area specialists to be flown into the fire ground.

"We've also been able to dispatch our intelligence aircraft to determine where these fire perimeters are, where these hot spots are and actively insert the remote area specialists into these high-risk, high-value areas," he said.

The bulk of the resources continue to be focused on blazes in the Lake Mackenzie area and at Lake Gordon in the south-west.

He said the forecast was fortunate for firefighters, given late summer was usually a challenging time.

"We believe we've got seven to 10 days of really good firefighting in the next period," the deputy chief officer said.

"So this will allow us to get a really good, solid edge around a number of these fires and really identify where a number of these fires are."

The Fire Service has also updated its estimate of how much Wilderness World Heritage area has been burnt to almost 2 per cent.

Overland Track to reopen on Wednesday

The world renowned Overland Track will be reopened on Wednesday morning, after authorities decided blazes in the area no longer posed a threat.

The trek through the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, receives about 8,000 visitors a year.

Overland Track
PHOTO: The Overland Track was closed to hikers because of the fire threat. (ABC News: Stephen Smiley)
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife general manager Peter Mooney said fires still burning in the area had not damaged the track itself.

"We've done a risk assessment of the current fires and it is now at a very low risk," he said.

"We'll be briefing walkers when they leave, because there may still be smoke in the region as they walk along the Overland Track."

Hikers who were booked for the Overland Track have instead been given the option of doing the Three Capes Track in the south east of the state.

From other news sites:

[grant evans]

Not sure this fire started in NP or wha.

[north-north-west]

WHA. Near Lake Parangana. I think it's park of the Central Plateau Conservation Area, but there are so many different reserves of varying status up there that it's sometimes hard to keep track of the borders.

Last edited by north-north-west on Mon 01 Feb, 2016 10:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Hermione]

These areas are normally too damp for a lightning strike to ignite, or for a fire to spread far if it does ignite. But things have been so dry . . . The last year or so has been a lot drier than usual. I was in many places during the spring that were drier than in the middle of last summer.

We know there haven't been fires for a very long time in some of these areas simply because the vegetation does not survive fire, does not regenerate after fire, and is extremely slow growing. When you have mature native pines that are as much as 1500 years old, you know there can't have been a fire there for a lot longer (like, thousands of years, possibly since the last glaciation).

As an aside, campfires are banned throughout our National Parks and (I think) in the WHA.

We walked through the WOJ at Christmas I have never seen it so dry up there. Sadly I saw evidence of campfires everywhere, Grail Falls, up on Cathedral , lake Artemis, lakes Meston, Adellaide and Ball,, Dixons and even between the tent platforms at the upper Wild Dog sites (not that we stayed there). As well as almost anywhere else that looked like a half decent camp site.

Last edited by Hermione on Mon 01 Feb, 2016 11:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[stepbystep]

Fire runs south right from the edge...

Attachments

[Tortoise]

Hey Dan,

Thanks for your heart-breaking work on this.

I'm wondering if there's a way of educating people with before, just post fire, and long term after type shots. May be possible from old photos?? i.e. showing that cushion plants, myrtle forests etc don't regenerate, but are replaced by more common species.

The right image helped save the Franklin. Maybe there's a pictorial message would have more power to overcome the 'Oh, but the Aussie bush needs fire to regenerate' message that's still being broadcast the loudest. People don't seem to be believing words.

[Mechanic-AL]

I guess if I was a squillionaire business man hoping to develop some sort of tourist venture in a WHA/wilderness areas with the blessings of the state government I would be looking very closely at the events of the past few weeks. I would be looking at the level of resources and man-power allocated to protecting these valuable areas from wildfire. And I would be seriously asking the men in suits....."is that all you have to offer"?

If the same scenario had just occurred on the 3CT I would imagine the response would have be on an entirely different level all together.

This is in no way intended to be criticism of the volunteers and workers on the ground fighting these fires. I have nothing but the utmost respect and gratitude for all these good people.

Just wondering........

AL

[MickyB]

I wonder it it's possible to replant some of the native pine from seed stock that has survived.

They've tried with King Billy seedlings elsewhere. The things just don't seem to take. Requirement for seed and seedling survival are obviously more complex than is generally realised.

If seed and seedling survival rates are low I wonder if they should attempt to plant more advanced nursery grown KBP.

[stepbystep]

A more in depth look at the area N/NE of Lake McKenzie.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne ... SApp_Other

And commentary from Prof Kirkpatrick

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opini ... y-comments

[Giddy_up]

"You don't know how good something is until it's gone"

I now realise that I had no comprehension of just how fragile this ecosystem is. I'm gob smacked by the loss and I have been putting off seeing it and dong this walk because I wanted it to be an epic walk that I would remember for ever. Sadly when I do it my memories will be for all the wrong reasons.

To those who have enlightened me and continue to do so, please please don't let us forget that this happened and let apathy creep back into anyone's thinking.

[geoskid]

lets take that road that services the wolfram mine....surely as an existing asset, it could be factored in as a viable useable access and control line?

just as one, of thousands of examples.

Diligence is the word...

Anyway, I am often wrong.

so, no poetry?

All Good Aloftas.

[pazzar]

I was saddened to hear this new upon stumbling into civilization today after spending 3 weeks in the south-west.

My group was aware of fires in the north of the state upon arrival at Melaleuca on the 17th of January, but had sketchy details. We also knew of the fire bans in place.

What was frustrating is that at several campsites along the South Coast Track, groups were still lighting fires in the fire pits, and in pits at camps that have never been permitted to have fires. How hard is it to employ a little common sense? I'm sure most of the parties that lit fires here were aware of the fires in the north of the state, and we did our best to tell people that it is not something that we practice in Tasmania.

Perhaps the removal of these existing fire pits, as well as a concerted campaign educate walkers is needed.

[Hermione]

Is there any more information about how things are progressing as far as controlling these fires? I'm in WA and although I've seen a few stories about them there doesn't really seem to be much up to date info. I know I can look at the TFS alerts and ListMap etc and see the are and maybe what resources they've deployed, which is the first thing I've been doing every morning but I want to know more. In fact it's worrying me that this isn't receiving more immediate press coverage and generating more public concern than it has.

[CasualNerd]

Fire runs south right from the edge...

Can I ask where this photo was taken ?

[norts]

Looks like the old sign near Lady Lake Hut

[MrWalker]

Looks like the old sign near Lady Lake Hut

I thought it was at the top of Parsons Track.

[norts]

Should have been put in the "Where am I" Competition

[MrWalker]

This is what this area looked like almost exactly 12 months ago.
It is from a slightly different angle. The hill in line with the right hand end of the sign is the same hill as aligned with the left hand end of the sign in the burnt scene.

[Lophophaps]

ABC News
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-03/f ... ia/7136058

[whynotwalk]

Kudos to Dan Broun and Rob Blakers for their (distressing) photographic recording of fires in the Lake Mackenzie/Central Plateau area. There are links to some of these earlier in this thread, and here's one of Rob's (used with permission).

Burned pencil pines, Central Plateau: Photo by Rob Blakers

I've been wanting to put some words around my response to these fires, and especially to the apparent indifference to, and ignorance of, the special nature of Tassie's alpine flora. So I've tried to respond to some of the arguments I've heard, even on this forum, such as:

Well fire's just a natural part of the Australian environment.

So for what it's worth, here's a link to my response. Feel free to pass it on if you think it contributes anything. Ignore it if it doesn't.
http://www.naturescribe.com/2016/02/a-tasmanian-catastrophe.html

cheers

Peter