The ferocious bushfires that engulfed the seaside hamlets near Margaret River, Western Australia, last November created a moonscape quite alien to what it looked like before. The dune systems that surround the mouth of the river and hug the coastline were burnt completely bare. But the vegetation is slowly starting to show signs of a comeback. Little green shoots are sprouting out everywhere, even following the hot, hot heat of a West Australian summer.
Zamia palms and grass trees have begun to send out their spiky green crowns and many trees are showing juvenile regrowth around their blackened trunks. Generally it’s the coastal species which sprout from lignotubers and rootballs which are recovering well – peppies, templetonia, olearia, hibbertia, leucopogan and ficinia. Trees and shrubs that reproduce by seed pods which require fire as part of the germination process have new seedlings emerging under the black skeletal remains of the mature plant. Hopefully more germination will happen after the winter rains.
The lunar-like landscape of the burnt coastal dunes.
Regeneration on the dunes has been slow as there is no protection from the strong coastal winds. The Shire (of Augusta-Margaret River) has established some monitoring points to record changes to the dune systems following impacts from wind erosion while the plants re-establish themselves.
We hope that the little splashes of green emerging all over the burnt earth is helping to restore the spirit and resilience of the people who live in Margaret River of whom many lost their entire homes and gardens along with the greater tracts of coastal bush.
