Gum - Forest red - toogoolawah

Originally Posted by Eric Frei

I have named this tree, "The Burl Tree".

I heard of it and decided to see for myself this tree. I must say that pictures do not do justice for this prize veteran tree.

Situated approximately 1km south of Toogoolawah in Poll Crandell park near the Cressbrook Creek bridge it is in clear view from the highway.

You cannot miss the giant burl that is in this tree, it is huge and stunning.

Some tree data (I will be entering this tree here as it larger than the other 4 on the register).

Common Name : Gum - Forest Red
Scientific Name : Eucalyptus tereticornis
Circumference : 6 metres (236 inches) (1.91m DBH)
Height : 46.00 metres (151 feet)
Crown : 23.00 metres (75 feet)

Points for Big Tree Register: 406 .... closest contender is 365

But to me this isn't about who's tree is bigger, it's about something taken for granted that can be utilised for more, like tourism.

I shot a video of The Bird Tree and The Big Fella Tree in NSW, people do go and look at these trees.

The thing about this tree, besides the size, is it's easy location, prominence on the landscape, the burl, the age and it's environmental value. Somerset Regional Council has a real valuable asset here which just happens to be in an existing park, how lucky.

The tree is a veteran. It is entering the over mature phase of it's life and into veteran age where things can become a little unreliable just like The Bird Tree in NSW. Hollow native trees are extremely valuable habitat for our unique variety of not only parrots but marsupials. It has been said that it can take gum trees upwards of 75 years of age to start developing hollows.

This tree does have large deadwood, however it also has hollows. Natural shedding is what happens in the bush and as pieces fall off more habitat becomes available. Dead wooding habitat trees is very different from dead wooding urban trees. One has to be extremely careful to leave hollow stubs, and not cut anything that might be living inside. I was once dead wooding for habitat some old eucs and had a long dead but hollow branch. Had I have cut that branch back to the collar (target cut) I would have chainsawed 4 sugar gliders inside. I left about a 0.5m stub and noticed that the hollow stopped not much further than the collar. I also noticed that now the opening (aperture) was large and pesky crows could attack these sugar gliders so I carved a piece of dead wood to jam in the hole to make the opening smaller, allowing the sugar gliders to get in and out but not a crow. The point I am making is that regular dead wooding is not what is best, and it may even be better to not dead wood at all and allow natural shedding ..... after-all trees have been doing this for millions of years before man came along.

To manage human safety just like The Bird Tree I propose the council should fence the tree off beyond the dripline, mulch the area within which will help the longevity of the tree. Currently people are parking under it with large deadwood, some broken and caught up, hanging above. The weight of vehicles compacting the soil and expediting it's demise. Whilst the tree even dead would be significant helping it live longer and keeping people and their destructive habits away would be wise, perhaps a viewing platform or at least a fence.

In addition it would be a prime opportunity to have a sign on the road so people pull in, a plaque to discuss the tree including a scientific explanation about burls. When I was there so was another couple on holidays and they were very intrigued with the burl and how they occur, of course burls do not kill or damage trees but many people do not know that.

This was also done for The Explorers Tree at Hughenden which went from a neglected lonely tree to something of notoriety.

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I haven't even covered the historical or cultural aspects of this tree which I'm sure the locals and council would know better than I.

Anyway time for the pictures of the tree, enjoy.



In this picture if you look closely to the left of the tree at the base you see my ute and can compare the size of the tree and burl to it

Originally Posted by Eric Frei

Hey all, dang hot here, tinderbox stuff down Victoria and I hope the fires do not start.

Tomorrow I'm going out to the country again .... bit of a surprise what I am up to.