BUSHTRACKS 13/04/2020
The science of recovery
Two months after the North Black Range Fire swept across Bush Heritage’s Burrin Burrin Reserve in NSW, ecologist Dr Matt Appleby assesses the damage and recovery rate.
Read MorePublished 13 Apr 2020
This Red Gum is massive and many centuries old. Its sheer size and grandeur make it stand out from its kin in the surrounding vegetation of the Oonartra flood-out. There’s a creek line nearby as well as a sand dune that hosts a population of Purplewood (Acacia carneorum), and which has views of the eastern plains stretching to the horizon.
Its large, diverse form is an ‘animal hotel’ – the tree’s limbs, hollows and bark provide habitat for many species. It’s an ecosystem within itself which also highlights its connectedness to the broader landscape. In the mornings, the bird song is impressive as the flood-out provides a very rich and diverse vegetation cover.
Gazing at this tree is like looking back in time; it’s easy to imagine kids over hundreds of years past playing on and around it (as my daughters do now). What games were they playing and what were the issues of the day?
Its timelessness makes this a place of reflection and contemplation. I enjoy taking people there and watching their reactions – especially when they see it for the first time. Just be careful of the inch ants!
BushTracks Autumn 2020 (PDF)
BUSHTRACKS 13/04/2020
Two months after the North Black Range Fire swept across Bush Heritage’s Burrin Burrin Reserve in NSW, ecologist Dr Matt Appleby assesses the damage and recovery rate.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 13/04/2020
On a farm in the Tasmanian Midlands, Simon Cameron is proving that conservation and superfine wool production can go hand-in-hand.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 13/04/2020
When writer and self-confessed city-slicker Jane Caro takes an opportunity to venture west, it leads her to experience all the highlights and some of the lowlights of life in the field.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 13/04/2020
Back in the 1970s, the skies over Perth used to blacken with the sight of Carnaby’s Cockatoos. The big noisy parrots flocked across the horizon in their thousands. These days they are few and far between.
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