After Melbourne's devastating fires of Black Saturday, that killed mainland Australia's tallest known trees, tree hunters like Brett Mifsud and others were on the lookout to discover new giant trees in Australia. I joined them last week to climb a newly discovered giant tree in a forest miraculously left untouched by the 2009 fires. The tree discovered this year by Brett and named Black Beard is a remnant tree, one of just a few scattered survivors, of the 1939 fires that swept through Victoria and the trees of Toolangi State Forest.
Brett led a group of four tree climbers and myself into the forest north of Melbourne. The trip was intended to make an accurate height and volume measurement of this giant. When we reached the tree it would take the team half a day of rigging rope, climbing and measuring to confirm if the tree would set a new record for an Australian giant. The measurements are made using an actual tape measure from the top of the tree to the ground and making many trunk and limb diameter measurements as well.
Black Beard is massive and distinct from the surrounding smaller trees that germinated after the 1939 fire. The trunk of Black Beard has a diameter just off the ground of about 12 meters. The photo above is of a climber 10 meters off the ground. The image below is about 60 meters up in Black Beard. This eucalyptus mountain ash is estimated by Brett to be about 400-450 years old.
Tree climbers in this group have many reasons for climbing trees, but they all agree they share a passion for exploring the forest and climbing the biggest and tallest trees.
In this photo Brett ascends the tree past curtains of hanging bark a feature that inspired him to name this tree.
By the end of the day Black Beard measured to be 72 meters tall and having a volume of about 230 cubic meters. This does not make Black Beard Australia's biggest tree, but it's discovery is significant and adds to the record of living giant trees in Australia and the ancient remnant giants in Toolangi State Forest. According to Brett there are still more giants out there waiting for discovery.
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