Forests of Ash: An Environmental History
Cambridge University Press, 11/26/2001
EAN 9780521012348, ISBN10: 0521012341
Paperback, 248 pages, 24.5 x 17 x 1.3 cm
Language: English
This beautifully written book tells the story of Australia's giant eucalypt, the Mountain Ash, which grows in the region north and east of Melbourne. A single tree can reach a height of 120 feet in 20 years, making it the tallest hardwood in the world. While celebrating the steep, wet, dense eastern forests of Australia, Tom Griffiths shows that they can be far from benign. Dependent on fire for their survival, this awesome natural vegetation can become a source of destruction, forcing people to confront their relationship with the bush. Visited seasonally by indigenous people and later a site of mining and saw-milling for settlers, as well as contested ground for conservationists, the life cycles and fire cycles of the forests span millennia. Tom Griffiths tells the environmental, ecological and social history of a unique Australian forest, and, in doing so, tells the story of the continent as a whole.
Part I. A History of the Ash Range
1. Continent of fire
2. Tall trees
3. 'Improving'
4. Crossing the Blacks' Spur
5. Mining
6. Timber tramways
7. Water
8. The theatre of nature
9. Tourism
10. Black Friday
11. The long experiment
12. Heritage
Part II. Spotlights Ash and ants Alan Yen
Co-evolution, a tall forest story Ken Walker
Lyrebird Rory O'Brien
Coranderrk calendar Lindy Allen
Gems in the forest Bill Birch
The good oil Gary Presland
Hairstreak butterfly Ross Field
Shortfin eel Martin Gomon
'The strength and beauty of the mountain valleys' Elizabeth Willis
Leadbeater's possum Joan Dixon
Insect outbreaks Alan Yen
Exhibiting the tall forests Luke Simpkin
Epilogue.
'Griffiths' research work has clear and practical applications ... Griffiths brings special insights into understanding forests.' The Age