Is this the Most Important Forest in the World?

A recent media release announced that scientists had measured the most carbon dense forest in the world.

No, it's not in the Amazon - it's right here in Australia and I know it intimately. I worked hand in hand, for over a year, with well-known ecologist David Lindenmayer, one of the team of scientists who made the discovery. (He's the figure in the photo providing scale for the giant trees.)

At the time, we were working on a general ecology book about the area, in the Central Ranges of Victoria. I was privileged to gain access to this hidden locale, with all its unique wildlife, and to be the photographer to take exclusive, eye-popping beautiful images. At the time, we had no idea (well, I didn't) of what an important forest this was.

It turns out these trees have been affecting the world’s climate. As other forests have been removed from around the world, whether by logging or burning, the carbon that was tied up in the timber has been going into the atmosphere. However these forests of Victoria, because they have remained in their pristine natural state, have been the quietly storing huge amounts of carbon. One of them, the undisturbed O'Shannassey forest with trees as much as 400 years old, has a carbon sink capacity of over 2800 tonnes per hectare (1540 tons per acre). An average forest in the northern hemisphere has a capacity of only about 217 tonnes per hectare (97 tons per acre). The O'Shannassy forest was never logged due to being in the catchment for Melbourne's water supply.

The forests in the Central Highlands would have released a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere had they been cleared but, thanks to the lucky circumstance, they are now benefitting the world's climate and reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.

As a photographer, it's OK to take pretty pictures. But it sure feels extra good to know that your work has impact on other levels.

Marysville, Healesville, Kinglake: Names Burned into Our Minds Forever

In 1999, as I sat at this cafe in the centre of Marysville, I had no idea of the consequences of my upcoming assignment. David Lindenmayer and I were outlining the chapters of a new book, Life in the Tall Eucalypt Forests, and planning my shooting schedule for the next 12 months.

Over the following year, I toured the ranges and forests beyond the pretty little towns and photographed the giant Mountain Ash trees which were so susceptible to fire. Wherever I went, the terrors of 'Black Friday' which took 71 lives in 1939, were still visible. At sixty years old, the regrowing Mountain Ash youngsters still had a long way to go before they reached their mature age of 300 years. The phrases 'Black Friday' and 'Ash Wednesday' were still spoken in a serious voice as locals recalled the human losses as well.

I stayed at Healesville and Marysville, using these places as a base. I bought my groceries, drank at the pub and shared yarns with the locals, never realizing these towns would be devastated so soon in the future.

Now, ten years later, I can turn the pages of the book and travel again into the heart of the Yarra Ranges, admiring the resourcefulness and beauty of nature as it recovered and grew out of those losses. I hope that my collection of photographs, as published in the book, has some value in not only preserving the once beautiful landscape, but in stirring hope in the hearts of the communities that it will once look like that again.

As photographers, we have a mission far grander than just pretty pictures. When you assign yourself the task of travelling deep into a region, getting to know it at a core level and recording its wonders with iconic imagery, you are contributing far, far more. You are leaving a legacy. As nature photographers, our job is to use our skills plus our determination to create majestic bodies of work. One day, that might be all that remains.

You can give money to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by calling the Red Cross on 1800 811 700. Or you can contribute in another way. You can donate your time and energy to the preservation of our planet by taking memorable photos.