As reported by a number of news agencies about 72,000 hectares of World Heritage Designated forests in western Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state have been burned by clusters of bushfires. It has also been reported that most of the bushfires were ignited by a dry lightning storm that crossed the island in mid January.

Fires have posed an enormous, ongoing challenge to the fire service, and threaten and destroy vegetation that is unique to Tasmania, including iconic alpine species such as the Pencil Pine and cushion plants, as well as temperate rainforests. In addition, fires are burning up large areas of organic soils upon which the unique Tasmanian vegetation depends as reported by the environmentalists. It is believed that it will be extremely unlikely for the burnt areas with the endemic alpine flora to fully recover given the slow growth of these species and the increased risk of subsequent fires according to Professor David Bowman, University of Tasmania.
There is a great environmental impact to the Tasmanian World Heritage Wilderness, especially fires in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park and Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park. Since the declaration of the World Heritage Area, fire has been carefully regulated and campfires are prohibited resulting in the reduction in the number of bushfires. Unfortunately, over the last decade there have been an increasing number of lightning storms that have ignited fires. This current fire season however, is shaping up to be extremely unusual because of the high number of fires set by lightning, their duration, and erratic and destructive behaviour that has surprised many fire fighters.