5/9/14 South Gippsland - Jeff Pike - Wilson's Promontory

Epicormic growth from a tree burned
3 months ago

 DEPI District Mgr. Jeff Pike

 Had an interesting day with a fellow names Jeff Pike!  He is a District Manager for Dept of Environment and Public Industry (DEPI).  We headed south to visit some old burns and learn about some of the regrowth and other ecology of the area.  Learned a new word for me anyway, not being a tree person!  We learned about regrowth that is "epicormic." That is, after a fire, epicormic growth happens from under the bark or underground at the tree's base. Its how the regeneration begins for some species, but when the canopy finally grows, it shades the growth below and the lower growth dies.

The group listens at Wilson's Promintory.
Tea tree is the large bush in back

Then we made our way to Wilson's Promontory where Tea Tree has taken over the area.  It is not an indigenous plant and planned burns are helping get rid of it but it took some experimentation.

Undergrowth at Walkerville

 And finally, after a long day, we made a last stop at Walkerville, or something like that to look at another planned burn area where they are having trouble getting an opportunity, both with weather and public concerns, to be able to burn.  We walked into the area a bit to see the density of undergrowth and learned that spotting, because of bark,  is a far bigger problem in controlling fire than in the US.  Short term spotting can be 15 kilometers and long term, can be as much as 30 miles.

Anyway, long day. Very tired group. Had a late, but wonderful dinner at a resort near the Promontory with several of our hosts attending. Looking forward to a day in Melbourne with some time off.