Coordinates of the carpark for Google earth are:
latitude 37deg 11 min 69 sec
longitude 142deg 23 min 65.4 sec
Nine of us had a pleasant walk in June. We finalised the wording on the new signage and looked for the best locations for the signs. We also removed some tripping hazards, made a list of what spraying would be needed, discussed whether some of us could be authorised to do spraying and chainsawing -see below – and decided to seek more advice on the age of the fallen “walk-through” tree – again see below. We planned a working bee late in August to finalise the signs, but the wild and wet weather intervened, so it was moved to Monday Sep 7 when a small group marked out the exact sites for the signs and did a bit of weeding. We were pleased with the work PV staff had done with spraying of thistles, new direction signs and removal of dead trees.
Meanwhile Sylvia had provided me with the name of a firm specialising in dating trees and I got in contact with them. Their strong advice was not to proceed with getting a core sample. (We already had an age estimate of 300 years based on a wedge removed from another huge fallen tree). Because the tree was hollow so far up, it is very likely that its core was rotten even where it appears solid and so there would be no rings to count. Furthermore, rings are not really reliable with red gums. In a wet year they produce several rings, in dry years none. This firm usually uses the age of surrounding forest trees to verify red gum age, but due to the heat of the fire we don’t have this opportunity. Red gums over 300 years are apparently quite rare. I did a bit of an internet search and this advice was confirmed. So we won’t be proceeding with trying to age the walk through tree.
Ewen Johnson reports on progress with replacing the stolen table:
We have had some great news with another person joining the team who are replacing the
table and seats. The table top will now be one piece with natural edges which I have seen. The new member will also bring skill and experience to the team, so look-out for some action in September.