What are the main effects of these high fire intensities?
Fifteen months after the fire, thick barked eucalypts are shooting along trunks and branches, and thin barked species, with basal coppice. Recovery of the understorey is sparse. Sheet erosion is still occurring. Deposits of sand and gravel fill table drains and gullies. An experienced bird observer/ photographer recorded fire effects at one site from 3 pm until after dark on 19 May last, a fine and calm day, and heard one currawong call. He neither heard nor saw any other bird or mammal in that period. In the Black Cypress and White Box/ Black Cypress forests between Suggan Buggan and Willis, tree crowns were severely and uniformly scorched over large areas on slopes in the Snowy River valley. Fifteen months after the fire, White Box is recovering with basal coppice. The Black Cypress trees are dead; there is no regeneration by seed and it is unlikely that any will occur. The soil is 75% exposed, gullies are filled with sand and silt and sheet erosion is occurring. Dr DH Ashton, an emi
