Events
Find out what WAFA events are coming up!
ICONS IN CRISIS: THE PLIGHT OF THE TINGLES
The future of Western Australia’s ancient tingle forests is at a crossroads.
If you’ve been to Walpole, and the Valley of the Giants, you’re probably familiar with tingle trees. These towering, ancient giants have firmly cemented themselves as a WA icon.
Found nowhere else on Earth, red tingle forests are confined to a tiny 20km radius around Walpole, making them one of our most extraordinary and irreplaceable natural treasures.
Yet these fire-sensitive forests face an urgent threat from repeated prescribed burning.
In 2024, a disastrous burn close to the famous Tree Top Walk led to the collapse of more than 100 tingle and karri trees. This was one of the worst outcomes ever seen in WA’s prescribed burning program.
Despite this mass felling, the government maintained that this burn was a success.
Even with evidence of irreparable damage from repeated burning and better ways to manage bushfire risk, more burns are proposed this summer in the old-growth tingle forests of Walpole-Nornalup National Park.
It is absolutely urgent that these blocks are removed from the burn plan, before it is too late. The right decisions made now can ensure the tingle forest survives for future generations.
This forum brings the urgent plight of the tingle forests to Perth.
Join leading scientists, forest advocates and community voices for a special public forum examining the future of the tingle forests, what must change to protect them and how you can be part of securing their future.
Speakers
Dr Joanna Young – Tingle forest ecology, fire sensitivity and the history of fire management in Walpole-Nornalup National Park.
Associate Professor Philip Zylstra – The science of long unburnt forests and how they influence bushfire behaviour. Video presentation.
Jason Fowler – WA Forest Alliance. New directions for tingle forest bushfire management and the proposed summer burning programme.
Via Stidwell – Tingle Action Group. Community action, the political campaign to protect the tingles and how you can influence management.
Featuring a preview of Campbell Young’s forthcoming film ‘Kaarlak, Living with Fire’
Event details
Wednesday 18 November 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
State Library Theatre, State Library of Western Australia, Perth
