Beautiful photos and a heartbreaking reality. I had no idea about the many varieties of eucalyptus.
In my area the forests were entirely different just 100 years ago. The American Chestnut was the apex tree across the eastern US. But an invasive fungus destroyed them. They aren't extinct, but only grow to saplings of a few feet before dying off. I've never seen a live grown one, but everywhere I hike the land is strewn with massive trunks of the fallen trees that haven't yet rotted away.
Erik, It is tragic seeing the loss of trees and changes to entire ecosystem systems. The book The Overstory describes the loss of chestnuts beautifully (highly recommended). We have had chestnut blight in Victoria but it was eradicated - and didn’t affect many of our trees. The real risk is Myrtle Rust which is in Australia and impacts the Myrtaceae family which includes eucalypts.
I’m currently on the road heading up to the High Country for a few days - hoping to find some old snow gums
Your tree image are beautiful James - I particularly like the first colour image of the old snow gum and the black and white images at the end.
It is so sad to see the effects of climate change on these beautiful habitats. It is easy to feel powerless to do anything, but sharing images and personal observations has to be a good way to bring these stories to the attention of a wider audience. 🙂
Thanks Gill. I am really enjoying making tree portraits at the moment. The images you mention were all quite a mission to get to, and I’m about to leave for three days on Mt Cobbler - hopefully I’ll find some more.
Such beautiful trees. The trees in the black and white photographs remind me of old, gnarly olive trees in Italy. It makes me so sad to hear about all the wildfires destroying all the beautiful woodlands all around the world. Thank you for sharing this!
Beautiful photos and a heartbreaking reality. I had no idea about the many varieties of eucalyptus.
In my area the forests were entirely different just 100 years ago. The American Chestnut was the apex tree across the eastern US. But an invasive fungus destroyed them. They aren't extinct, but only grow to saplings of a few feet before dying off. I've never seen a live grown one, but everywhere I hike the land is strewn with massive trunks of the fallen trees that haven't yet rotted away.
Erik, It is tragic seeing the loss of trees and changes to entire ecosystem systems. The book The Overstory describes the loss of chestnuts beautifully (highly recommended). We have had chestnut blight in Victoria but it was eradicated - and didn’t affect many of our trees. The real risk is Myrtle Rust which is in Australia and impacts the Myrtaceae family which includes eucalypts.
I’m currently on the road heading up to the High Country for a few days - hoping to find some old snow gums
I'm putting The Overstory on my reading list!
Excited to hear you're on another adventure. I can't wait to read about it and see the photos!
Your tree image are beautiful James - I particularly like the first colour image of the old snow gum and the black and white images at the end.
It is so sad to see the effects of climate change on these beautiful habitats. It is easy to feel powerless to do anything, but sharing images and personal observations has to be a good way to bring these stories to the attention of a wider audience. 🙂
Thanks Gill. I am really enjoying making tree portraits at the moment. The images you mention were all quite a mission to get to, and I’m about to leave for three days on Mt Cobbler - hopefully I’ll find some more.
Such beautiful trees. The trees in the black and white photographs remind me of old, gnarly olive trees in Italy. It makes me so sad to hear about all the wildfires destroying all the beautiful woodlands all around the world. Thank you for sharing this!
There is something special about really old trees - well worth travelling out of your way to visit. Perhaps a trip to Italy one day!