TRILEPIDEA Newsletter of the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network NO. 198 Brief observations of vegetation following a fi re on Flagstaff , Dunedin May 2020 John Barkla (
[email protected]) Deadline for next issue: On Monday 16 September 2019 a fi re swept through c. 30 ha of montane tussock- Friday 19 June 2020 shrub/fl axland on the popular Pineapple Track that traverses Flagstaff (668 m) above SUBMIT AN ARTICLE Dunedin. Billowing smoke and fl ames were clearly evident from the city and it took TO THE NEWSLETTER eight helicopters and 35 fi remen to contain the fi re. Dampening down continued Contributions are welcome through Tuesday, and surveillance of hot spots was ongoing for several days. Th e to the newsletter at any Pineapple Track was closed for a week. time. The closing date for articles for each issue is Evidence from sub-fossil logs suggests there was a cover of montane forest on Flagstaff approximately the 15th of until about 1300 AD. Chionochloa rigida-dominant tussocklands are thought to have each month. been present since at least the mid 19th century and maintained by periodic fi res Articles may be edited and used in the newsletter and/ (Wardle & Mark 1956). A hot spring fi re in late 1976 burnt c. 100 ha. Given its close or on the website news page. proximity to Dunedin, the area around Flagstaff has been a convenient research site The Network will publish for investigating the eff ects of fi re on snow tussock, e.g. Gitay et al. (1991). almost any article about plants and plant conservation I walked through the burn site on 28 September, almost two weeks aft er the fi re with a particular focus on the started (Fig.