Warren Bruce

Anaesthetist (ret), humanist, family person, interested in nature, wildfires,
history, the cosmos and, on rare occasions, a fisherman.

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

A remarkable visionary and backer of many social reforms - Dolly Parton. May her unique voice be her legacy focused on multiple areas needing change! 🙏Yes she did write this song!
https://t.co/4UhfHSh9K7

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Prof_NickTalley A hot Europe is currently stressing health and general resources. Is this presentation going to be made available Nick?

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Weather_West Great thread.

Application of this science to forest and wildfire management is critical.

Question: Should the LA fires be a wake-up call to review the "seismic-safe" building code if it is found to be a "fire-friendly" ally to fire spread?

Grenfell Tower (London) moment.

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@elonmusk The effects of a warming climate on wildfire risk and spread in forested areas are becoming familiar.

However, the LA fires are now providing a wake-up call to review the "seismic-safe" building code if it is found to be "fire-friendly"!

Grenfell tower (London) moment?

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Seantooker2 This recent paper sheds a little light on the relationship between eucalypts, drought effects and flammability of living tree foliage that may be driving wildfires.
A significant review.
https://t.co/BZhIR59XUJ

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Seantooker2 Ginger tree syndrome has been happening at landscape scale in many areas of Australia. This Dec 2019 image is looking across thousands of hectares of Morton National Park NSW (fire on horizon) just prior to the pyrocumulonimbus firestorm 8 days later. Sad outcome!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@BlodauTW Social reform is difficult. 🦕

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@BlodauTW Gin!!!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@EFrost_Wildwood An alternative explanation perhaps is that eucalypt seedling nurseries are like a gourmet restaurant for koalas! Koalas do prefer fresh, young, leafy shoots. Hence are attracted to fresh plantations as well.
They can be seen as eucalypt gourmands!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@DonnachadhMc This looks to be dense forest! I would question whether the evapotranspiration of this forest now exceeds precipitation?
If the density here is uncontrolled regrowth or planting, this may be unsustainable forestry management. Forests need nurture!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Phil_Zylstra I understand how pockets of e. Regnans forest can be quite dense but wonder if there is forest hydrology science to support the widespread forest density that you are suggesting?
With water consumption of 100-800 liters/day of large trees >60cm DBH, drought stress seems likely.

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

So proud of this woman of STEM.
Poster presentation at IAWF FBF Conference Canberra.

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

First Nation People were far better at achieving sustainable forests than subsequent colonials!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

Sad story, however:

Young planted bluegum forests are a magnet for koalas - hence over 1 per hectare vs 1 per 100 hectare wild!

With ageing, these forests become too dense for groundwater, so burn with an intensity that incinerates koalas.

Koalas may be safer in open forests!

[💧🌱 wentworth falls @tilly64]

What a pathetic outcome $34,000 is $270 per koala

Colonial Australians don’t deserve this country especially ⁦@tanya_plibersek⁩ @auspol

Mass koala deaths in Cape Bridgewater see 85-year-old fined https://t.co/lt8FgSv1Sf

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@MichaelPascoe01 The Valuer General is also a player with land values in NSW doubling rapidly (in our case 5 years) with ongoing price pressure effect!
Why?

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@For_Mod_Lab If only it was that easy!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@AlanKohler @Raf_Epstein In NSW the Valuer-General is adding to the inflationary real estate pressure. A semi-rural, few acres with unimproved capital value increasing by over 4X average Australian gross wage per year.
The Valuer-General is a player in this game!

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Rebecca74083947 Good article with good historical hydrology data for Eastern Australia but a debatable bias for CO2 Fertilization. Worth scrutiny.

https://t.co/Co8T9F6d2u

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Rebecca74083947 I feel that a major factor is progressively ageing and increasingly dense forests with higher evapotranspiration losses. Groundwater and basal streamflow are impacted.
Not just CO2 fertilization either.
Now beyond a sustainable level.

[Warren Bruce @wecb55]

@Rebecca74083947 It is interesting though, how a growing forest with a few years of high rainfall can, in a year of drought, evapotranspire residual groundwater.
Looks like catastrophic self-thining! That was behind the non-sustainable comment. It is happening up and down the coast.