ABSTRACT

Parks Victoria (PV) and Department of Environment Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) have established a project with research partners University of Tasmania to assess the benefits of post bushfire recovery intervention in long-lived Alpine ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) forests in the Alpine National Park. The purpose is to study bushfire vulnerability and develop a scientific rationale to determine the extent to which management intervention should be implemented for parks suffering catastrophic disturbance events. If immature stands of long-lived Alpine ash are subsequently burnt complete regeneration failure of these eucalypts can occur. Bushfires in 2003, 2007 and 2009 burnt over 87% of the Alpine ash forest in Victoria, with some areas burnt a second or third time within a decade by the 2013 Harrietville – Alpine Bushfire. These areas of multiple short-interval burnt Alpine ash in the Alpine National Park which were affected by the 2013 Harrietville – Alpine Bushfire were identified for management intervention through aerial sowing. The reasoning for land management intervention was to moderate the losses of rejuvenating Alpine ash forests and enhance catchment stability above a recognized high bushfire risk township. Scientific research assessing the benefits of Alpine ash aerial sowing in the national park will be used to develop a rationale for future land management intervention policy. While aerial sowing established a cohort of Alpine ash seedlings, the challenge for land managers is to reduce the vulnerability of these immature multiple short-interval burnt areas from future fire for the next two decades until reproductive maturity.

Key Words:

Bushfire research
Catastrophic disturbance
Ecological recovery
Land management intervention policy
Short interval bushfires