Local residents inspect a felled tingle tree following the prescribed burn. Photo: D Jennings via WA Forest Alliance.
More than 150 ancient tingle and karri trees in Western Australia’s Walpole-Nornalup National Park have been destroyed by a prescribed burn according to an environmental group.
The WA Forest Alliance (WAFA) says the trees in the state’s far southwest near Denmark collapsed during the burn which took place in mid-December. The destruction was highlighted in a report compiled by residents of the region which was the result of a comprehensive survey of the area conducted in January and early February.
The burn was conducted in an area known as the ‘Giants East’ forest block, and was conducted by WA’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA).
A statement from the department released in January described the burn as a success and reported that just one giant tingle tree had collapsed.
Local resident and ANU environmental science student, Uralla Luscombe-Pedro said she had surveyed the area for fire-felled trees after the Giants prescribed burn, and estimated 180 mature red tingle, yellow tingle, karri and marri trees were felled by the burn in an area of less than 100 hectares.
“Fallen branches and entire tree canopies that were burned off their trunks are scattered across the forest floor. In some places, trees have collapsed in groups,” she said. “From any standpoint in the forest, it’s clear this was a severe and damaging fire.”
The tingle tree features shallow roots, fibrous bark, burls and gnarls which makes them particularly susceptible to frequent and severe fire. The WAFA says each burn sets up more trees to fall in the next fire because of the cumulative damage that burning does to their structure and stability, and that tingle forests actually have naturally low flammability when they are left unburnt for long periods.
The Walpole-Nornalup National Park Association (WNNPA)’s said it was “incredibly shocked and disappointed” by the results of the Giants East block burn.
The WNNPA said it first raised concerns about the burning of the tingle forest over 30 years ago, and a 1997 trial burn in the same forest led to the collapse of at least 30 trees.
As a result, the WNNPA has called for a halt to another planned burn in nearby tingle forest later this season. It called for an increase in pre- and post-fire monitoring programs, robust and meaningful ecological outcomes to be built into burn prescriptions, and for an independent review into prescribed burning.
Tingle trees have shallow root systems and the damage caused by multiple prescribed burns is believed to be cumulative. Photo: Uralla Luscombe-Pedro via WA Forest Alliance.
WA Forest Alliance (WAFA) senior campaigner Jason Fowler said Western Australians overwhelmingly supported the protection of South West Forests.
“The government has recognised that in the ban on native forest logging, now they need to take the next step and overhaul the prescribed burning program to prevent this unnecessary destruction,” he said.
“Urgent changes are required to ensure fire-sensitive species and communities like tingles are not burnt in this manner.”
The survey conducted for the report studied 85 hectares of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park and determined that the fire had caused long-lasting and irreversible damage to an estimated 180 large tingle, karri, and marri trees.
It also said the effectiveness of invasive scrub-rolling measures – which involves clearing vegetation around large trees with heavy machinery – requires further investigation, because numerous large trees that fell were within the scrub-rolled area.
“Not only does the large loss of trees found in this survey suggest a tendency for the issue to be underestimated and poorly understood by the land managers, but the numbers found in this, and previous surveys, indicate these adverse outcomes have continued to be replayed since the Red Tingle Consultative Committee reported the issue,” the report reads.
“The overwhelming evidence of extensive large tree falls from numerous prescribed burns in red tingle forests are grounds for an immediate moratorium on prescribed burning in the remaining areas of long unburnt tingle forests.”
