bdh
Aug 26th 2011, 09:31 PM
This lovely article (http://www.smh.com.au/environment/where-the-wild-things-are-native-flowers-bloom-after-firestorm-20110819-1j2f5.html) is a reminder of God's continual renewing and sustaining of life. Titled "Where the wild things are: native flowers bloom after firestorm" it reads
EIGHT years ago this landscape was charred beyond recognition, the scrub reduced to cinders by a bushfire that swept through in December 2002.
Now, as you walk through the Muogamarra Nature Reserve on the northern outskirts of Sydney, the bush is resplendent with life and buzzing with the sound of insects feasting on wildflowers. Small shallow holes beside walking tracks hint at the nocturnal scrapings of bandicoots and the area is home to kangaroos, wallabies and echidnas.
The only hint of the firestorm that burnt 80 per cent of the reserve is the black bark of the banksias and eucalypts that survived the onslaught. But that fire sowed the seeds for the thriving bush on display today, said the Sydney discovery co-ordinator for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Tim Porter.
With a thick mat of dead leaves and bark burnt away, seeds that had sat dormant for years would have found their way into the sandy soil. Others needed the heat from the fire to germinate.
In fact, later in the article it points out that without occasional destructive fires, the bush cannot replenish itself. So too is it in life that the same fire that causes destruction also forges steel and purifies gold.
For those who are barely hanging on, remember the renewal of the forest after a fire and know that all things work together for the good regardless of whether we can see it at the time or not.
EIGHT years ago this landscape was charred beyond recognition, the scrub reduced to cinders by a bushfire that swept through in December 2002.
Now, as you walk through the Muogamarra Nature Reserve on the northern outskirts of Sydney, the bush is resplendent with life and buzzing with the sound of insects feasting on wildflowers. Small shallow holes beside walking tracks hint at the nocturnal scrapings of bandicoots and the area is home to kangaroos, wallabies and echidnas.
The only hint of the firestorm that burnt 80 per cent of the reserve is the black bark of the banksias and eucalypts that survived the onslaught. But that fire sowed the seeds for the thriving bush on display today, said the Sydney discovery co-ordinator for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Tim Porter.
With a thick mat of dead leaves and bark burnt away, seeds that had sat dormant for years would have found their way into the sandy soil. Others needed the heat from the fire to germinate.
In fact, later in the article it points out that without occasional destructive fires, the bush cannot replenish itself. So too is it in life that the same fire that causes destruction also forges steel and purifies gold.
For those who are barely hanging on, remember the renewal of the forest after a fire and know that all things work together for the good regardless of whether we can see it at the time or not.