Save Our Snow Gums

 

Snow-gum forests, a defining and precious element of the Australian Alps, are now in decline and dying.

 

This phenomenon, known as snow-gum dieback, is the product of infestation by wood-boring longicorn beetles. The longicorn larvae feed on the outer wood and inner bark of affected trees until the bark is completely removed. The process kills heavily infested trees and, in the most severe outbreaks, leads to the death of entire communities of trees.

 

The scale of the current outbreak - spanning the entire mainland alpine region - is unprecedented. The underlying cause driving the phenomenon remains unknown. Our research aims to find the exact drivers causing snow-gum dieback, to assist mitigation and management of snow-gum dieback and to explore the role climate plays in affecting insect behaviour and tree-level vulnerability to infestation.

 

 

Your generosity and support can help us save our snowgums, before it is too late. For more information, and to help by reporting your own observations of snow-gum dieback and wood-boring longicorn beetles, please visit our website at www.saveoursnowgum.org