{"id":611727,"date":"2026-04-16T23:27:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611727\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T23:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:27:21","slug":"stronger-environmental-protection-granted-for-alpine-ash-forests-but-concerns-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611727\/","title":{"rendered":"Stronger environmental protection granted for alpine ash forests but concerns remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecologists hope the federal government’s decision to list alpine ash forests as endangered can help save the declining species, but the forestry industry has labelled it as “astounding”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tall ghostly white eucalypt trees are found in the high country areas of the ACT, New South Wales and Victoria.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent decades, the trees have struggled to rejuvenate after multiple major bushfires.<\/p>\n

The forests were listed as an endangered ecosystem under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) on March 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alpine ash forests have been listed as endangered to prevent the risk of extinction. (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

University of Melbourne forest and fire scientist Tom Fairman said the trees were in decline.<\/p>\n

“They are what we call a fire-sensitive species \u2026 [and] over the last 25 years, we’ve had a huge amount of fire,” Dr Fairman said.<\/p>\n

But the listing has been criticised by the forestry industry, including the chief executive of the Australian Forestry Products Association, Diana Hallam.<\/p>\n

“Locking populations away \u2026 is actually going to lead to species decline, not species saving,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Alpine<\/p>\n

Alpine ash trees take 15 to 20 years to seed. (ABC News: Verity Gorman)<\/p>\n

Towering trees take up to 20 years to seed<\/p>\n

Dr Fairman said alpine ash trees dominated their forest environment and thrived in high elevations, just below the snow line.<\/p>\n

“If you’ve been driving to the ski fields in New South Wales or Victoria, you’ve probably passed through alpine ash forests on your way to the top of the mountains,” Dr Fairman said.<\/p>\n

The forests provide shelter and habitat for other species, including Leadbeater’s possums and greater gliders.<\/p>\n

They are also an important part of First Nations culture.<\/p>\n

The approved conservation advice under the EPBC Act states that the alpine ash forest ecological community is primarily threatened by altered fire regimes due to climate change.<\/p>\n

“Areas occupied by Alpine Ash forests have experienced a substantially greater number of fires from 2001-2020 relative to the 20\u2009years prior,” the document states.<\/p>\n

“A high-severity fire (greater than 90-100 per cent leaf scorch) causes 100 per cent or almost 100 per cent tree mortality.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This map shows where the alpine ash forests are (red) and where they could be (pink). (Supplied: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)<\/p>\n

While alpine ash forests have adapted well to fire for thousands of years, Dr Fairman said that was changing.<\/p>\n

“We’re shifting from infrequent severe fires to probably more frequent severe fires, and that’s where you really have this issue for the forest type,” he said.<\/p>\n

Burnt trees drop seeds in the months after a fire, but it takes 15 to 20 years for the new trees to flower or seed.<\/p>\n

“The real risk to alpine ash is when large fires start overlapping one another,” Dr Fairman said.<\/p>\n

“So it basically just drops out of the landscape completely, and you lose effectively what makes that forest a forest.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tom Fairman says alpine ash trees will not regenerate if burnt before flowering. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)<\/p>\n

Concern forests will be locked up<\/p>\n

Ms Hallam acknowledged that alpine ash trees were vulnerable to fire, but she did not believe the species was at risk of extinction, given its broad distribution.<\/p>\n

“The decision absolutely astounded not only us, but also others involved in the sector,” Ms Hallam said.<\/p>\n

Logging is banned in nearly all alpine ash forests, but Ms Hallam said adding another layer of protection with an endangered listing would not ensure its survival.<\/p>\n

“The future of the ash forests depends on active management, including seed collection and prescribed burning, amongst other activities,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The lock and leave approach is not going to help this species in any way, shape or form.”\"Woman<\/p>\n

Diana Hallam is concerned alpine ash forests will be locked up. (Supplied: Australian Forest Products Association)<\/p>\n

Timber Towns Victoria (TTV) represents 11 local councils that have forest communities.<\/p>\n

The group is concerned that the endangered listing for alpine ash was based on environmental ideology, rather than evidence.<\/p>\n

“The primary focus should be on genuine stewardship of the landscape rather than ideological posturing,” TTV president and Glenelg Shire Mayor Karen Stephens said.<\/p>\n

“These forests face real and immediate threats from excessive fuel loads and repeated wildfire.<\/p>\n

“This listing actually leads to less management, not more, and will do nothing to protect them.”<\/p>\n

\"Trees<\/p>\n

Alpine ash trees are found across the Snowy Mountains. (Supplied: Tom Fairman)<\/p>\n

The future of the forests<\/p>\n

While the alpine ash forests have stronger environmental protection under Australian law, it is still not clear what will happen next.<\/p>\n

Ecologists and the forestry industry are in agreement about one thing: the need for action.<\/p>\n

“Just going on a list in itself doesn’t actually necessarily save the species,” Dr Fairman said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got the risk of fires impacting it in the future \u2026 we really need to be proactive about maybe testing out new approaches,” he said.<\/p>\n

Ms Hallam said silviculture and selective harvesting should be used to protect the forests.<\/p>\n

“We would still encourage active management of those forest stands to provide timber, but also provide sustainable habitat and maintenance and conservation of the species,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ecologists hope the federal government’s decision to list alpine ash forests as endangered can help save the declining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[297175,297176,64,63,98076,68,8426,75,8662,45622,48883,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-611727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alpine-ash","9":"tag-alpine-ash-forests","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-bushfires","13":"tag-climate-change","14":"tag-endangered","15":"tag-environment","16":"tag-environmental-protection","17":"tag-fires","18":"tag-forestry","19":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}