East Gippsland - After the Fires
These photos were taken in and around Errinundra National Park in East Gippsland, in late October 2020. A huge complex of fires burnt over 320,000 hectares in the surrounding area for 91 days in late 2019/early 2020, nine or ten months before these photos were taken.
Errinundra is located in Far East Gippsland, Victoria
For reference, this was the route we took through the park. I haven’t been into the southern end, or near Goolengook.
Pre-fires, Nov 2019
This picture and the one above were taken in November 2019 just as the fire season was beginning on the east coast. I passed through the area with dad before the fires hit, and was interested/hesitant to see what the area now looked like and what remained. Below are images from the same area of the park in Oct 2020.
Some of the wetter areas of this region seem to be recovering ok. Tree canopies and trunks relatively intact. Ferns burnt with new fronds growing. Looks like the fire wasn’t too intense/burnt cooler. This was on the western side of the park, near The Gap scenic reserve I think.
I think these images were on the eastern side of the park, closer to Ada river camping area. Wetter area and what looks to be a cooler burn.
Old Growth Walk
There’s an amazing walk through old growth forest in the middle / eastern side of the park. Thankfully this area was untouched by the fires. These giant Errinundra shining gums are estimated to be over 600 years old.
The photos below were taken on the eastern edge of the park where areas of forest (National park?) border with logging coupes. This area was more patchy. Some hillsides and gullies are untouched while a couple hundred metres away fire seems to have ripped through.
Wet gully burnt out
Some areas looked to have burned pretty hot. These areas may have previously been logged (?) and are adjacent to coupes that have more recently been logged.
Some areas are intact like this. You can see how wet some areas, particularly the gullies, usually are.
Unburnt / burnt
Wet, unburnt area
This drone shot shows how patchy it is. Some of the wet gullies appear unburnt, more open areas burnt. The hillside in the middle you can see has been logged relatively recently, and was burnt.
Some wetter gullies look like this. There was still birdlife, the campsite at Ada river was noisy with lots of birds.
While just up the road it looks like this.
Regrowth, stressed but alive? I wonder what these will look like in a couple of years if no more fires come through
Ocean view lookout on the southern edge. This area was pretty devastated. The trees didn’t have the green shoots like the ones above which were facing east
Coming out of the southern edge of the park into farmland near Club Terrace. Bush behind had all been burnt
Tamboon Inlet
We continued south of Cann River into Croajingolong National Park near Tamboon Inlet. This area was pretty torched. There weren’t many birds or signs of life. I briefly stopped to take these pics and it smelt like rotting flesh
Cape Conran
Cape Conran is a little further east along the coast. Torched with not much signs of birds or wildlife.
I remember driving in here and usually it’s thick, shady bush that you can’t see through.
Beach at Salmon rocks
East Cape
Salmon Rocks. Waves still the same
There’s many areas that we didn’t see. Thankfully some of the Old Growth is intact, although I have seen other images of Martins Creek where Old Growth rainforest has burnt. We didn’t venture further east in Croajingalong or to Mallacoota. I did go through Snowy River National Park, much of which was surprisingly untouched. Little River Gorge and Mckillops bridge were all good.
It’s pretty hard to see so many beautiful areas destroyed. So much wildlife and birdlife gone. What we don’t see is just how much land in Australia has already been cleared. Huge areas cleared since settlement. Look on Google earth and only patches of green remain, usually the areas that were not suitable or too difficult for agriculture or grazing. What is left is precious, especially the Old Growth.
Be sure to check out Goongerah Environmental Centre (GECO) who are campaigning to protect these forests, much of which continues to be logged. And I highly recommend getting up to these areas and seeing them for yourself if you have the chance. Thanks also to my sis for coming along,
Thanks for taking the time to look,
Richard
*Also below is a link to a gallery of images from Errinundra I shared earlier this year, taken pre fires