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Our Wonderful Trees

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Sean
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by Sean »

I'm liking the milder temps overnight, it's making getting out of bed easier. Patchy drizzle still falling on and off.


I remember when I was in Tasmania it was shocking to see whole hills devoid of trees. Our forests are able to rejuvenate (if we let them) but forests such as the Amazon aren't able to properly grow back because it loses vital biodiversity and are unable to form proper canopies.
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by Macedonian »

I didnt realise that the Dandenongs were logged as well, Rivergirl. What on earth were those Victorians thinking? Still, i suppose when you look at England, it would seem that they were axe-happy all round. :o
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93ben
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by 93ben »

Rivergirl » Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:20 am wrote:
Rivergirl wrote:93ben I've been to the Cuckoo, it's only a couple of kms from me :) The Dandenongs were completely logged by the early 1900s. I've seen pics of the denuded hills. So basically all the trees in the forest are only about 100 years old. There is one massive stump of a really old tree in Sherbrooke forest that I have seen.
Awesome! I've been going there ever since I was a little kid. Anyway that's crazy about the logging. You would've thought they would consider growing tree farms instead of destroying existing rainforests.
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by nafets »

Yeah they needed heaps of wood back then, not just for fires but to build all the houses!
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by Geoff »

Rivergirl wrote:The Dandenongs were completely logged by the early 1900s. I've seen pics of the denuded hills. So basically all the trees in the forest are only about 100 years old. There is one massive stump of a really old tree in Sherbrooke forest that I have seen.
Yes, I don't think many people realise that all the huge trees up here are still relatively young, it will be fascinating to see how huge they get now that they are protected (bushfires permitting). I'll try and post a photo of one tree on our block which would be one of the biggest in the Dandenongs. :)
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by daz930 »

Geoff » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:17 am wrote:
Geoff wrote: Yes, I don't think many people realise that all the huge trees up here are still relatively young, it will be fascinating to see how huge they get now that they are protected (bushfires permitting). I'll try and post a photo of one tree on our block which would be one of the biggest in the Dandenongs. :)
The tallest trees in the Dandenongs are along Sassafras Creek, the tallest about 86m tall. These date from around 1908. The largest tree by volume is called "Old Clem" along Clematis Creek in Sherbrooke Forest. It is about 70m tall, 150m3 in volume and has a girth of about 9m.

The 86m tall tree along Sassafras Creek is about the tallest on the Australian mainland, along with an 86m tall tree at Beenak in the Kirth Kiln Regional Park. The tallest tree used to be 92m tall in Wallaby Creek Catchment, and also 90m tall in the OShannassey Catchement, but they were all killed in the Black Saturday fires.

Cheers, Darren
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by droughtbreaker »

Mount Macedon and Creswick were both major logging areas in the mid to late 1800s and in these two areas state government nurseries were set up in order to raise plants to revegetate the respective areas. There are still Douglas fir plantations on Mount Macedon which are a relic of this activity. Also Firth Park in the Wombat State Forest which contains an assortment of trees that were planted there as an experiment to see if they could thrive in the area. Most of the forest on the mountain came back the same as before, alpine ash, manna gum and messmate basically. After Ash Wednesday it all had to come back again. The trees around the summit area of Mount Macedon
are mostly Alpine Ash and due to the 1983 fires a lot of them are still relatively small trees.

As for this upcoming sequence. The models aren't all that interested in major rainfall at this stage but that should change as we get closer to the event. The general trend however will be for mild and dry conditions leeward of the great divide and much cooler and wetter conditions on and north of the ranges. The N/NW rain shadow should be in strong effect.
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Rivergirl
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by Rivergirl »

Thanks for the info on the forests Daz and Db. So sad to hear of the giants killed in the Black Saturday fires
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by mad*moo73 »

Rivergirl » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:31 pm wrote:
Rivergirl wrote:Thanks for the info on the forests Daz and Db. So sad to hear of the giants killed in the Black Saturday fires
Had no idea that the Dandenongs were logged to that extent. Hard to imagine Mt Dandenong without the beautiful forests which make a drive up the mountain such a pleasure. Thanks for the info guys. :D
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by Geoff »

Righto, just been out in the garden to photograph our daughters by our BIG Mountain Ash tree.
P6100257-Optimized-2.jpg
P6100257-Optimized-2.jpg (46.91 KiB) Viewed 19896 times
I put an 8 metre tape measure around the trunk at their head height without going into the curves, and it was nearly 2 metres too short, so it must be about 10 metres around!

(Perhaps we should get out of this weather thread and make a new one for things like this?)
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nafets
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by nafets »

That's so awesome!! It's huge! I was just wondering how you record your rain with huge trees like that blocking it out?
Go the bombersss!
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by James »

I'm finding the conversation about the forests really interesting...i guess not much "weather" to talk about at the moment :)

how old is the above tree? - I lived up in central victoria for many years, you rarely EVER saw a mature ironbark or other tree up there, its all re-growth or coppiced off stumps after being cut down for firewood and growing back year after year.

We did however have some very old yellow gum, and grey box trees in our paddock - some of the largest i have seen in the area, i know how slow they grow in the conditions up there so these must be ancient, you dont realise from a distance until you get close to the base and see the size, we also had one of them struck by lighting when i was about 7, (in the mid 80s) as the tree had hollows in it, i witnessed it happen as a kid and saw the steam blow out the holes and blast wood many metres away..i was traumatised for years!!! Half the tree died, the other half lives on today. I'd love to know how you can date these trees and why these few still stand in the area when so many are all gone or so young. Old aerial photographs are often a way to see what was there previously. It seems some trees grow slow, while others can grow real fast 50 metres away...
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by johnno »

Thats huge Geoff. Yeah mabye a new/seperate thread would be good to continue this discussion
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by daz930 »

James » Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:09 pm wrote:
James wrote:I'm finding the conversation about the forests really interesting...i guess not much "weather" to talk about at the moment :)

how old is the above tree? - I lived up in central victoria for many years, you rarely EVER saw a mature ironbark or other tree up there, its all re-growth or coppiced off stumps after being cut down for firewood and growing back year after year.
The above tree, from the girth measurement would be 200-300 years old. Mountain Ash trees (Eucalyptus regnans) are difficult to estimate age past about 150 years, as they spent the first 70+ years growing up fast, then they slow to 10cm or less per year and their girth increases. A e.regnans tree 150 years old could look similar to a tree 300 years old, depending on growth rates, fire and storm history. The largest tree, by girth in Victoria is called "Mt Fatigue Giant" with a girth of 19m, though only 40m tall. It is located around the Gunyah area in South Gippsland.

The best stand of Old Growth Mtn Ash trees in Victoria are near Mt Erica on the Mt Erica Road, about 2kms along the road after turning off the road to Thomson Dam. These are 400+ years old, and you can see many large trees from the road.

Cheers, Darren (tree junkie :-)
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nafets
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by nafets »

Daz, do you happen to have a photo of the trees/ strip, google maps was lazy and decided not to go down that road :P :) ;) By the way theres been a lot of logging in that area... :(
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by daz930 »

nafets » Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:06 pm wrote:
nafets wrote:Daz, do you happen to have a photo of the trees/ strip, google maps was lazy and decided not to go down that road :P :) ;) By the way theres been a lot of logging in that area... :(
Hi nafets,

Which area are you interested in, Gunyah or Mt Erica Rd? Gunyah is in the Gunyah Scenic Reserve and Mt Erica Rs is in the Baw Baw National Park so both are protected from logging.
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Australis(Shell3155)
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Re: Our Wonderful Trees

Post by Australis(Shell3155) »

If mine wernt killed by drought the wind blewn them over, then the new ones are attacked by our friendly possums.
Although some replacement gums are doing really well, planted sept 2009 after those huge winds in the august..
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Re: Our Wonderful Trees

Post by daz930 »

Hi Everyone,

Here is a picture of a tree called "Broken Giant". It is the 2nd largest tree in Victoria by volume, stands about 46m tall and is probably 400+ years old. It is huge and only 10m from the side of Mt Erica Rd on the left heading up hill, you cannot miss it. My car is at the bottom of the picture and you can see the thick trunk above my car up to the crown of the tree.

Stats:
Girth: 14.85m (Measured at 1.5m)
Volume: 244.4m3
Height to top of Bole (Trunk): 41m
Height to top of branches: 46m
Girth at 41m: 5.8m!! - which is 1.85m in Diameter!

No other tree in Victoria has a girth that large at 41m and very few in Tassie do either.

Cheers, Darren
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Broken Giant - Mt Erica Rd - Baw Baw NP
Broken Giant - Mt Erica Rd - Baw Baw NP
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Re: Our Wonderful Trees

Post by James »

Here is one of the largest trees on our property near St Arnaud,

Image

(click on image for larger view)

The small trees either side of it are at least 30 years old or more, probably seeded from the big one, its hard to appreciate the size of the trunk at the base with nothing to compare however.

Every few years or so, the tree would drop massive boughs, and in each drought year we had, it dropped so many it was almost "toppless" - its a Yellow Gum - not a river red gum and the area doesnt get flooded.
when we moved there, we found evidence of other large branches it had dropped a LONG time ago and the wood was surprisingly well preserved laying nearby after all that time.

The area around there is pretty much all small regrowth trees no more than 40 to 50 years old, as the area was cleared and turned over for gold mining in the old days and also paddocks for farming...
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Re: June 1-5 Low- rain

Post by Rivergirl »

You're so lucky to have that tree which has obviously survived the logging in your beautiful garden Geoff. I must have a look at it next time I'm over
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