Stefan Eberhard, Endangered Sentinels (PLACES 2025)

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Sentinel trees are big old trees that stand out and "watch" over an area, and they can be indicators of ecological changes in the surrounding environment. This solitary old-growth eucalypt may be over 250 years old, a surviving remnant of what was once the largest pristine tract of tall old growth forest in Tasmania’s Florentine Valley. This once pristine wilderness has been mercilessly harvested for wood pulp over many decades and is now a farm for plantation timber and regrowth logging. In the distance are the dramatic rocky ramparts of Mount Field West in the Mount Field National Park, the boundaries of which, appallingly, were retracted to enable logging to encroach further up the slopes. The Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle is endangered with an estimated less than 1000 birds. For nesting it requires patches of mature (old growth) forest, normally greater than 10 ha area. With this photo I sought to capture the scene of desolation inside a recently logged coupe with the lonely sentinel tree, spared from the chainsaw but now standing alone. And per chance the eagle flew into my frame, his once seemingly endless territory of magnificent mature forest decimated, and now both reduced to the verge extinction.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.