TWWHA Bushfire Recovery: Lake Mackenzie Rehabilitation Trials

In January 2016, following an exceptionally dry spring, lightning storms ignited extensive fires that  burnt approximately 20,000 ha of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. One of the worst affected areas was around Lake Mackenzie, where almost 14,000 ha of fire-sensitive subalpine vegetation, including 141 ha of pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) forest and an unknown area of Sphagnum moss communities, were burnt.  Post-fire enquiries recognised the importance of Gondwanan refugia, including Sphagnum mires, in protecting Tasmania’s unique biodiversity, and identified the need for research into post-fire impact assessment and restoration of these communities. This led to the Lake Mackenzie Rehabilitation Trials, funded by what is now the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas). Funding was awarded to the University of Tasmania (UTAS) in mid-2018 “To test methods to promote recovery, rehabilitation and/or maintenance of pencil pine and Sphagnum community values in the TWWHA, where these have been damaged by fire, targeting areas burnt by the 2016 bushfires.”

Between December 2017 and January 2022, UTAS researchers conducted four trials to promote recovery, rehabilitation and/or maintenance of pencil pine and Sphagnum communities, specifically:

1. Investigating the potential to use drones to map the fire severity and area of Sphagnum mires burned by the 2016 fires.
2. A Sphagnum rehabilitation trial, to test whether various combinations of fertiliser, shadecloth and Sphagnum transplants can promote recovery of the Sphagnum mires burnt in the 2016 fire.
3. A re-survey of adult pencil pines to quantify delayed mortality, resprouting, and presence of juveniles.
4. A trial of interventions to restore stands of pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) damaged or destroyed by fire. These interventions included sowing seed, transplanting nursery-grown seedlings and cuttings, and use of tree guards to protect germinants and transplanted tube stock from herbivores.