Secret mission saves Australia’s ‘dinosaur trees’ from bushfires
A secret operation by specialist firefighters has saved the world’s last stand of Wollemi Pines, a pre-historic species known as “dinosaur trees”, from Australia’s unprecedented bushfires, officials said.
Fewer than 200 of the trees exist in the wild, hidden in a gorge in the World Heritage Blue Mountains, northwest of Sydney, an area hit by one of the biggest bushfires that have ravaged much of Australia for months.
With flames approaching the area late last year, air tankers dropped fire retardant in a protective ring around the trees while specialist firefighters were winched into the gorge to set up an irrigation system to provide moisture for the grove, officials said.
Matt Kean, environment minister for New South Wales state where the Blue Mountains lie, described the operation as “an unprecedented environmental protection mission”. While some of the trees were charred by the flames, the grove was saved from the fires, he said in a statement late Wednesday.
“The fire did go through there, we had a few days of thick smoke so we couldn’t tell if they’d been damaged. We all waited with bated breath,” he told ABC radio.
“It’s just been a phenomenal success story,” he added.
He said this wildfire season was the first opportunity to monitor the response of the trees to fire in a natural setting, helping the park to refine how it manages the grove.
The Wollemi Pine which grows up to 40-metres (130feet) high is believed to have existed since the Jurassic period 200 million years ago, predating many dinosaurs. They were believed to be extinct, only ever seen in fossils, until their accidental discovery by a park ranger in 1994.
The grove’s remote location has remained a closely-guarded secret to protect the trees from contamination by visitors.