Green army for a war we can’t win

A year after the bushfire that roared across the Strezlecki Ranges there are signs of renewal. Farm paddocks are green again after decent rain, and many of the gums have started to reshoot. Driving up to the Grand Ridge Road south of Traralgon one can almost forget what took place here; the shiny new sheds and houses lift the spirit, suggesting a new prosperity – until you reflect upon what happened to their predecessors. Still, as you wind up the road the impression is that nature and humanity are slowly reclaiming the landscape. That is until you are almost at the top of the hills, just out of Balook, where the view abruptly shifts. Even after a year the mind reels from this revelation of the full impact of the fire. Suddenly as far as the eye can range there is only destruction, no vegetation, just bare hills – a panoramic image of a dead planet. Burnt stickfigures are all that remain of the thousands of pines and blue gums that once grew in plantation formation – it looks like nature’s version of Arlington cemetery, the dead all precisely lined up. It was like this a year ago and even more shocking than the total devastation is the fact that there seems to be no regrowth at all. Yet if you drive for just five more minutes the contrast could not be starker. The Tarra-Bulga National Park reveals a lush area of temperate rainforest untouched by the bushfire. Ten steps inside on the first walking trail, you are able to forget the destruction just beyond. The fire must have been at its peak as it came right to Tarra-Bulga, having gained force and momentum from the acres of plantation it ripped through, yet it did not penetrate the forest, instead going around it on all sides. The thick bush and undergrowth trapped moisture, enabling the bush to repel the fire. By contrast the thousands of acres of plantation not only were consumed, but have failed to regenerate, leaving a scarred and inhuman landscape.