With over a third of north-east NSW's rainforests
burnt last year the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) is calling for the
immediate protection of 50m buffers around rainforest and an urgent weed
control program in and adjacent to burnt stands.
"The NSW Government's mapping of fire extent
and canopy
scorch
shows that some 160,000 hectares (35%) of
north-east NSW's 462,000 ha of rainforests were burnt last fire season",
said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.
"It is tragic that over a third of these
priceless relicts burnt in one year. Across the fire-grounds most leaf litter,
logs and understorey plants were burnt, along with their inhabitants. Many tree
bases were damaged.
"Most worrying is the significant loss of
large canopy trees, hundreds of years old, across 125,000 ha of rainforests,
with 34,000 ha of these losing most canopy trees.
"Some stands are unlikely to ever recover.
"These rainforests are relicts from over 70
million years ago when Australia was clothed in rainforest as part of the
supercontinent of Gondwana.
"The
relatively small remnants left are packed with survivors from the ancient
forests. Rainforests now cover only about 0.25 per cent of Australia, yet they
contain about half of our plant species and a third of our mammals and birds.
"The exceptional importance of NSW's
rainforests is recognised by parts being created as the Gondwana Rainforests Of
Australia World Heritage Area.
"With climate heating increasing droughts,
temperatures, heatwaves and extreme
fire weather, many of our relictual rainforests are under a
looming threat to their continued existence.
"If we want them to survive they need to be
treated with some care and respect.
"Rainforest buffers are essential to maintain moist rainforest
microclimates and reduce
fire threat.
"If our rainforests are to survive this
climate emergency the NSW Government needs to protect their buffers.
"As a minimum, 50m buffers (one tree height) should
be applied around all mapped rainforest stands from which logging and clearing
are excluded. Weeds and debris from past logging need to be removed from these
buffers.
"The intensity of the fires has killed lantana
over large areas, creating an opportunity to control it before it takes over
again. This opportunity must be capitalised on if we want to increase the
resilience of rainforests" said Mr. Pugh.
