Informing post-fire recovery planning of northern NSW rainforests

Ross Peacock manages a long term plot monitoring network in northern NSW focusing on the impacts of climate change and wildfire on world heritage rainforests. It is the longest running experiment of its type in Australia, being initiated in 1942. The permanent plots provide a unique opportunity to examine impacts of fire at the individual tree level which is most unusual considering the 2019/20 wildfires burnt into an existing long term experiment.

The existing knowledge base for planning post-fire recovery in fire-sensitive rainforest communities in eastern Australia is almost absent. The value of the existing long term monitoring network to inform the update of northern NSW reserve fire management strategies is immense. Findings from this research will be presented to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Australian World Heritage Advisory Council and the scientific community. This research will inform future management of rainforest across Werrikimbe and Willi Willi National Parks northern NSW in particular and more broadly across temperate rainforests in SE Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.