I have been exploring the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.** There are some spectacular walks from Evans and Govett’s Lookouts near Blackheath.
In the following photograph you can see vegetation black from the 2006-07 Lawsons Long Alley fire which burnt about 14,440 hectares of national park. There has been lots of rain recently and the undgrowth is recovering with many beautiful wildflowers.
View to Govett’s Leap, December 5, 2007
Track between Govett and Evans Lookouts, December 9, 2007
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** I’ve had limited access to the internet and so apologies to those who I have not returned emails. The sitution should improve with my new dialup connection.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Dailup? Can’t you get broadband? My friends in Adelaide have broadband via satellite dish, part funded by the government.
Christmas bells! They need a fire for a good showing.
Paul, bb via satellite is fast download slow (dialup speed) upload.
Thanks rog.
Thanks for the nice photographs – there has been a lot of rain in the Blue Mountains lately.
There was talk that the fires burnt the “Blue Gum Forest”, (at the bottom of the Grose Valley). Is that true or partly true?
(I live in Melbourne, so I havent been to the Blue Moutains for about three years).
Hi Bill,
The walking track into the Grose Valley Blue Gum Forest from Evans Lookout is closed with a sign indicating the path is dangerous (and therefore closed) from landslides etcetera following the bushfires. I will have a look from the Mount Wilson side… perhaps this weekend.
Jennifer and Rog,
Nice to see the benefits of burning on biodiversity. From some academics you would imagine it was all destroyed, for ever.
GDEe and Rog,
I’m sure those same academics would be very glad it had all been ‘saved’ from logging…
Not destroyed for ever, just pushed in a different direction…
Forester,
How would academics survive without the paper produced from forests?
Sorry GDEe, I had assumed from your comment that you considered the recent spate of destructive wildfires ‘natural’ rather than culpable incompetence and somehow less destructive than modern silviculture.
I’m sure academics could battle on for quite some time without paper but perhaps not for long without taxes on poor forestry workers sent packing looking for work in the cities.