Forest Phoenix: How a Great Forest Recovers After Wildfire

By David Lindenmayer, David Blair, Lachlan McBurney and Sam Banks

This book tells the story of ecological forest recovery in the wet forests of Victoria following major wildfires in February 2009. It also focuses on the science of ecological recovery – a major body of information that is not well known or understood by the vast majority of Australians and the vast majority of environmental policy makers.

Forest Phoenix presents this important story via short engaging text and truly spectacular images, which are accompanied by highly informative captions.

If you've ever wanted to better understand how forests and forest biodiversity recover after wildfire, then this book is a must-read.

2011 Whitley Award Commendation for Ecological Zoology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
• Release date: Sep 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9780643102118

Book preview

1 | A forest burning

The forest was extraordinarily dry on the day before Black Saturday in 2009, and it was eerily still and quiet where we were working at Cambarville, about 20 kilometres from Marysville. Trampling a branch on the forest floor produced a crack that carried far into the distance – a complete contrast to the deafening firestorm that tore through Cambarville the next day.

We have worked at Cambarville since 1983 and although the area was an initial focal point, our work has since expanded across the Victorian Central Highlands region (Figure 1.1). Our research in the region has focused primarily on montane ash forest. The region covers approximately half a degree of latitude and one degree of longitude (37°20′-37° 55′S and 145° 30′-146° 20′E) – an area of about 400 000 hectares. The major towns include Healesville, Warburton, Marysville, Alexandra, Powelltown, Toolangi and Noojee. These forests are dominated by stands of Mountain Ash, Alpine Ash or Shining Gum. Mountain Ash typically occurs at altitudes between 200 and 1100 metres, Alpine Ash between 900 and 1450 metres and Shining Gum between 600 and 1300