Long-unburnt stands of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng) are exceedingly rare in the Victorian Alps: implications for their conservation and management

Abstract

The nature of Australia’s high mountains is changing. Recent, repeated landscape-scale fires have burnt much of the subalpine forests dominated by snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora). Long-unburnt snow gum forests are important for ecosystem services, have socio-cultural benefits, and conservation values, but they are now exceedingly rare, comprising <1% of snow gum forests in the Victorian Alps. We identify where long-unburnt snow gum stands persist in the Victorian Alps and outline why management intervention is necessary to protect unburnt refuges and, more broadly, to allow mature/adult stands (such as occur on the Baw Baw Plateau) to develop into future old forests.