Styx Valley

Logging coupes SX10F, SX10C 2003 - 2007

Colour pigment prints on cotton rag paper, varying sizes

Eucalyptus regnans, the tallest flowering plant on earth is pictured here in the Styx Valley. This tall tree was over 80 metres tall at the time of photographing it, and about 300 years old. Other vital forest vegetation such as tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica, may be up to 1000 years old. In 2003, the brutal clear-felling practices meant that all the vegetation was flattened to aid the removal of the fine old Eucalypts. Most of the forest was simply left there as waste and vast areas were burnt. The tall old Eucalypts were mostly converted into low-grade paper pulp, with little kept as timber.