Images keep the heat on saving our wild places

LANDSCAPE photographer Luke Tscharke hopes his images of the Gell River bushfire will keep the heat in the debate on protecting Tasmania’s wilderness from bushfires.

The photographs taken during a flight with Par Avion on February 2 show the impact of the fire on parts of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Mr Tscharke, whose photographs feature regularly in National Geographic magazine, said the flight was a personal and professional mission.

“I do a lot of bushwalking in the Southwest and I really love the area and it was eating me up that fires were doing all that damage,” he said. “I could see from the air that it hasn’t burnt as much into the rainforest as I thought it may have, that was encouraging to see.

“There’s some very precious areas these fires got extremely close to.”

The image of Lake Rhona clearly shows the success of a line of sprinklers put in place by firefighters to protect fire-sensitive vegetation.

Mr Tscharke hopes the images will contribute to the debate on managing bushfires in wilderness areas.

Par Avion managing director Shannon Wells said the fires were a “tragedy”.

Mr Wells said he hoped to see renewed focus on fighting wilderness fires in the future, as such fires often lost attention when properties were threatened elsewhere.

“Just because it’s not on emergency or watch and act because there’s someone’s property on the line doesn’t mean there’s no damage happening,” he said.