Snow gums are the classic alpine tree of the Australian mainland, generally growing at heights between 1,300 and 1,800 metres asl. But wildfire has been devastating large swathes of snow gum habitat, with significant fires in the Victorian High Country in 1998, 2002/3, 2006/7, 2013 and 2019/20. Much of Kosciuszko National Park was burnt in 2003 and 2019/20. South Eastern Australia suffered from a drought that lasted more than a decade and this has increased the severity of the fires that have occurred since the turn of the 21st century.
In the paper ‘Long-unburnt stands of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng) are exceedingly rare in the Victorian Alps: implications for their conservation and management’, John Morgan, Michael Shackleton and Zac Walker from the Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology at La Trobe University highlight that ‘Long-unburnt snow gum forests (now) comprise less than 1% of snow gum forests in the Victorian Alps.
We are now witnessing localised collapse of snow gum woodlands due to the combined impacts of more frequent fire and dieback, which is caused by a native beetle.
While these woodland communities are generally protected from threats like clearing because they are on public lands, the threat to them is real and requires new ways of campaigning.
Following the release of our report in 2021 on the state of the Victorian high country (An Icon at Risk), Friends of the Earth started to conduct citizen science field trips where we gathered evidence of localised collapse of snow gum forests so as to better understand the scale of the problem.
You can see instances of some of the localised collapse on this page.
This resulted in the creation of our Rescue Plan for the snow gums, our work around the need to increase our ability and willingness to protect these forests from intense wildfire, and the plan to host the snow gum summit in February 2025.
A new long term monitoring program
At the invitation of Wollangarra outdoor education centre, we are now investigating the possibility of developing a series of long term monitoring sites in the southern Alps in Gippsland (from the Mt Howitt region through Arbuckle Junction to the Wellington Plains).
The sites will be developed in consultation with John Morgan from Latrobe University and will be designed in a way that data which is generated will feed into the existing long term monitoring that has been done for decades in places like the Bogong High Plains.
Wollangarra is a long established and much loved institution which has offered many thousands of young people incredible experiences in the outdoors, based on the Macalister River in the foothills on the southern side of the Victorian high country, just south of the township of Licola.
Wollangarra offers a hands-on approach to learning about life, leadership, and environmental care. On its website they say ‘here, young people find a welcoming community that values hard work, simple living, and connection to the land’. As part of the program at Wollangarra, students go on multi day walks in the mountains. These students will be involved in collecting the data from the monitoring sites while they are out on their walks.
Given this proposal will be on public land within the Alpine national park, we are negotiating with the land manager (Parks Victoria) and it will require the approval of the GunnaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), who co-manage the southern section of the Alpine national park.
We will reportback to our members and supporters as this project develops via the website and monthly newsletter, but please feel free to contact Cam Walker for additional information. [email protected]
This is also about politics
We need the Victorian government to intervene to assist the snow gum woodlands to survive these dual threats.
Please consider signing this letter to the Victorian environment minister, urging him to intervene and assist these forests.
