A Rare Species of Tree Was Saved from Australia’s Wildfires. And Then Something Amazing Happened.
This piece was
originally published in the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Buried amid the
horrific news from Australia about climate change and out-of-control wildfire
was something positive. According to an Associated
Press story last week, “Firefighters winched from helicopters to reach
the cluster of fewer than 200 Wollemi Pines in a remote gorge in the Blue
Mountains a week before a massive wildfire bore down… the firefighters set up
an irrigation system to keep the so-called dinosaur trees moist, and pumped
water daily from the gorge as the blaze that had burned out of control for two
months edged closer.”
This news had
particular significance to me for a number of reasons. For example, the
successful protection of this endangered species could hint of things to
come - if we play our cards right. For another, I know
the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. (Though I have not been to that grove of
trees - whose exact location has been kept a secret by botanists ever since the
grove was first discovered in 1994.) I spent four years down-under, first as an
American researcher on a Fulbright grant
to see what we in the States could learn from looking at the Australian
experience, and then as a roving foreign correspondent for science-related US
magazines such as International Wildlife, Scientific
American, and the journal
Science, among others. My job
was to travel over the land down-under, reporting on natural history, the
environment, and science in the Great South Land for publications back home in
the States.
Which was how I became
acquainted with the Blue Mountains, a lesser-known area about 120 miles west of
Sydney. They’re a surprisingly steep, thickly wooded, and easily overlooked
mountain chain, much like an Aussie version of our Appalachians. And much like
the Appalachians, their deep ravines held up westward exploration and expansion
for a long time.... read more:
