Mountain Ash trees that fell in the devastating June storms have provided the State’s Land Managers and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) with a rare opportunity for seed collection.
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio said the fallen trees enabled land managers and DELWP seed collectors to build their stores of Dandenong Ranges Mountain Ash seed to further their Forest Restoration Project.
“The tiny seed capsules are usually found 30 metres up in the tree canopy where they can only be accessed by qualified seed collectors, but with so many trees brought down by the storms, Land Managers have the rare opportunity to gather seed at ground level,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
“Many of our forests are adapted to regenerate after fires, but our alpine forests are fire sensitive and may not recover if another fire occurs before the trees can reach maturity and produce their own seed,” she said.
“Mountain Ash seedcrops take a year to mature after flowering and seeding cycles can be unpredictable.”
Ms D’Ambrosio said seed collection needed to take place to ensure availability of stored seeds for the species.
The Minister said stage one of the multi-Agency Forest Restoration Project saw the aerial seeding of about 11,500 hectares of the bushfire-affected forest.
“Stage two of the project will see VicForests and other contractors continue to deliver this important work, focussing on rebuilding seed stores and putting arrangements in place to more rapidly respond to future events,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
