THE HUON VALLEY GROVE OF GIANTS
HOME OF LATHAMUS KEEP
A GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT
FOREST
WORTH
PROTECTING
PLANING YOUR VISIT
DRIVING GUIDE
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is free to visit but does require detailed preparation and planning.
No road signs indicate the directions to the grove. Numerous drivers have become lost in the complex network of remote roads.
Each driver needs to have a detailed plan and an offline map to guide them. There is no mobile phone reception and Google Maps directions could fail well before you arrive.
It is easy to damage your car by bottoming out or hitting potholes with too much speed. Drivers of small cars note that there are deep ruts in the road over the last 1km. Be sure to drive on the elevated central rise of the road and not down in the ruts. Drive slowly!
WALKING TRACKS
Essentially there is one main walking track with an optional short track and a side track to Lathamus Keep.
We recommend you download the image below and keep it on your phone as a reference while walking.
UPDATE OCTOBER 2023 - Walking tracks have been updated to improve navigability and reduce environmental impacts. Tracks have been moved away from the base of trees to limit the impact on the critical root zone. A phytophthora wash station has been installed to help prevent the spread of microscopic pathogens that can kill trees.
LATHAMUS KEEP
OUR BIGGEST TREE PORTRAIT EVER
THE ORIGIN
After learning that yet another pristine old growth forest was going to be logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania, Tasmanian big tree hunters Jan Corigliano and Carl Hansen decided to take a look.
It was a cold and wet Saturday in August. Soaked to the bone and with raindrops covering the lens of their laser rangefinder they were prevented from getting any accurate readings. Their initial enthusiasm for the tree was dampened but the news quickly spread.
Months later in November a second visit by big tree climbers Shaun Green and Jack O’Hare set about to climb and measure the trees volume. From their maximum highpoint for the day of 65m they began to measure the stem at regular intervals all the way to ground level.
Later that evening far past any reasonable hour the phone rang, Jack had finalised and just triple checked the results. His calculations revealed the world had a new champion blue gum at 325 cubic metres in volume.
Sadly the previous champion Strong Girl had been killed in the 2019 bushfires along with another 15 of Australia’s top 25 trees. Finding Lathamus Keep reestablished the entire species as worthy contenders for giant tree protection.
PUBLIC OPEN DAYS
Announcement
We won! As of July 2023, the Huon Valley Grove of Giants is no longer on the three year logging plans. As such we have decided that our previous approach to hosting open days is no longer appropriate. To continue hosting open days we have decided to apply for formalised permits. This is a lengthy administrative process please be patient while we work through these processes.
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TBA we are in the administrative process.
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From 10 am we will have a detailed safety briefing, split into two groups then depart the car park into the forest. One group will take the walk to Lathamus Keep and the other will participate in the tree climbing activity. After a lunch break and presentation, the two groups will switch activities. Typically we will depart the forest at 4pm.
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The walk into Lathamus Keep, Tasmania’s champion Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus). Along the 1.4km walk, you will see several giants including Monastery, Joy, Gargoyle West and East, Swifts Tower, and the Un arrive at Lathamus Keep. You’ll also see a remarkable forest transition from a dominant Eucalyptus obliqua forest into a dominant Eucalyptus globulus forest over just 100m.
Lathamus keep is our final destination, this 80m tall 325 cubic meters in volume absolute monster of a tree is a sight to behold. LK was discovered in November 2021 by big tree hunters Jan Corigliano and Carl Hansen. Since then we have climbed, measured, and spent months creating our most impactful tree portrait ever.
To return for lunch the group can either return via the Top Track or the Bottom Track. The bottom track is more dynamic in elevation change and in the forest makeup. It is a much wetter forest full of tree ferns and does need some care when crossing very slippery uncut logs, muddy watercourses, and steep slippery slopes.
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The Tree climbing activity is unlike every other experience available. We use a counterbalanced haul system where one climber’s weight is offset by the others. As the climber reaches the top of the tree the system is locked and the opposite climber, now at the base of the tree, detaches from the system and the next climber is attached. In general, the journey takes one to two minutes to arrive at the top and each climber is able to stay at the top of the tree for a few minutes while the climbers are at the base a swapped over.
This experience is as close to the canopy of a giant tree as you will ever get. With branches as big as city trees, a guide at the top to greet you and commanding views out into the grove it affords participants a very unique perspective over the forest. It is this powerful experience of a forest that has driven us to campaign for the protection of the grove for many years.
Numbers are limited and places typically sell out in 12 hours. To be first in line for ticket offers subscribe to our Email Newsletter, where we announce our open days first.
#1 The Huon Valley is home to the Grove of Giants, a 100 hectare area containing some of the most notable giant trees in the world. Yet this natural wonder is still scheduled to be logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania in 2023 despite the words of politicians.
#2 The Grove of Giants is home to Lathamus Keep, the world’s largest Tasmanian Blue Gum, which was only discovered in 2021. The grandeur of this giant has been captured in a Tree Portrait, created by The Tree Projects team in 2022.
As the name suggests, the Grove of Giants is home to many remarkable trees. There are 150 trees over four metres in diameter or 12 metres in girth. You’d need at least eight people to encircle a tree that size. This forest is also the only place in the world where you have four different species of Eucalyptus all reaching gigantic proportions in such a small area.
The Grove of Giants is the last remaining intact stand of old-growth Tasmanian Blue Gums left. It is an important habitat for the critically endangered Swift Parrot, which relies on Blue Gum trees as a food source during their breeding season. The Grove of Giants has been described as the best remaining Swift Parrot habitat by researchers.
There has been countless hours of volunteer work to document the outstanding natural values of this beautiful forest. The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is globally unique and needs immediate protection from logging. It is unfathomable that the Tasmanian Government is still destroying old-growth forests in this modern age.
We have measured 300+ trees with a diameter of 2.5 metres in the Grove of Giants. Trees of this size are classified as giants in Victoria and protected. Unfortunately under Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s Giant Tree Policy Victoria’s biggest tree would still not qualify for protection and would be logged.
The Grove of Giants needs to be protected immediately and made a permanent formal reserve. All of Tasmania’s native forests need protecting - they are important solution for climate change, provide homes for our wildlife and have the potential to be a major tourism draw cards for small remote communities.
PRIDE OF THE SOUTHERN FORESTS
Tasmania’s Premiere Giant Tree Destination
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is a 100 hectare area containing some of the most notable giant trees in the world. This area includes both the world’s tallest and largest blue gums: Mother Daughter at 92m and Lathamus Keep at 325 cubic metres in volume.
Other viewable giant trees include the West Tower 91m, North Wall 86m as well as 5 other trees over 80m. Yet much of this natural wonder was scheduled to be logged in 2023. It took us two and a half years of campaigning and countless hours in the field, researching, surveying, climbing and measuring to get this area removed from the logging plans.
Did you know?
There are currently no giant trees south of Hobart that are free, signposted and tourist accessible. This is a major loss to the community, local businesses, and the Tasmanian tourism industry as a whole. The southern forests is home to a great number of the world’s biggest trees. This includes Centurion, the world’s tallest flowering plant at 100.5 metres.
Lathamus Keep, the world’s biggest blue gum at 325 cubic metres in volume is also located in the southern forests in a logging area called DN007b, or as we prefer the Huon Valley Grove of Giants.
Part of a big day out
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is located along the same road as two other popular hiking trails. The Lake Skinner track and the Nevada Peak Track. Both of these walks are stunning examples of Tasmania’s alpine environments.
Yet visitors to these trails drive within metres of the Huon Valley’s best ultra tall and ultra large wet eucalypt forest.
To visit the tallest blue gum in the world named Mother Daughter (92m) it is less than 1km drive off the main road and less than 200m walk from the carpark.
“HUON VALLEY GROVE OF GIANTS IS THE BEST GIANT TREE LOCATION IN THE SOUTHERN FORESTS. THE POTENTIAL FOR THIS 100 HECTARE AREA TO BECOME A MAJOR DRAWCARD FOR THE HUON VALLEY IS UNDENIABLE. IF PROTECTED THE LONG TERM BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY, LOCAL ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT ARE OBVIOUS”. - Steve Pearce
BIG TREE SURVEY AUGUST 2022
Following on from the realisation that the champion blue gum was found in a Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging area and due to be logging in 2023, a group of 14 volunteers came together to do a complete survey of the area for giant trees.
We set out to measure every tree bigger than 2.5m in diameter. What we found is that there are 300+ trees this size or greater. We chose 2.5m DBH because these trees would qualify for giant tree protection in Victoria, yet in Tasmania, trees this size remain unprotected.
Of this 300+ trees there are more than 150 trees greater than 4m in diameter and capping off these astronomical figures is just a few more statistics:
The area contains 76 trees over 5m in diameter with several of these immediately qualifying for protection under Sustainable Timber Tasmania Giant Tree Policy. Of these new giants there are 4 species of eucalypt Euc. regnans, Euc. delegatensis, Euc. obliqua & Euc. globulus.
Nowhere else in australia can you find four different species of trees all reaching gigantic proportions in such a small area.
Sustainable timber tasmania had plans to log this place in 2023. it took more than two and a half years of volunteer work to get this area removed from the logging plans. as of october 2023 it is still not protected.
TASMANIAN BIG TREE HUNTERS 2:
The Age of Discovery
Over this journey of discovery in logging area DN007b or as we call it the Huon Valley Grove of Giants we’ve been filming a documentary. The people who have come together in the Tasmanian Big Tree community and brought their personalities and individuality take us on their pathways of discovery. From desktop LiDAR session to climbing to the very tip of Lathamus Keep each person’s contribution played a vital part in the process of discovering this champion tree.
Updated 22/04/2023
Suspicious Behaviour?
The Grove of Giants had been on Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s publicly accessible logging plans for two years and was due to be logged in 2023.
On Monday 31 October 2022, Sustainable Timber Tasmania was contacted by ABC News in relation to a story on Lathamus Keep and the Giants.
Suzette Wedding, the General Land Manager at Sustainable Timber Tasmania stated that “Sustainable Timber Tasmania has no plans to harvest (the Grove of Giants) in 2023”, despite it being clearly listed on the 2022/2023 logging plans published only a few months prior to her statement.
It seems suspicious that Sustainable Timber Tasmania would suddenly announce that they have no intention of logging the area despite it still being listed on their logging plans as 2023.
During the intense media spotlight in October 2022 on Lathamus Keen and the Huon Valley Grove of Giants, all reference to logging area DN007B (Grove of Giants) was been removed from their publicly accessible logging plans. But this didn’t give us any confidence, we’ve seen this behavior before.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania then 3 weeks later, after the media scrutiny had died down, simply reinstated DN007B onto their logging plans.
Screenshot 2023-04-22 at 10.00.45 am
While the Huon Valley Grove of Giants is no longer on the logging plans it is not protected, We are and will continue to advocate for this area and its surroundings to be formally made into a reserve. As well as advocating for it to become a free, accessible, and signposted tourism asset for the people and businesses of the Huon Valley.
Critical Swift Parrot Habitat
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is the last remaining stand of ultra tall and ultra large old-growth Tasmanian blue gums left on the planet. All other stands of blue gums of this class have either been logged or heavily impacted by fire.
In the 2020/2021 breeding season DN007b, the Huon Valley Grove of Giants, was heavily populated with breeding swift parrots. Citizen Scientists documented these sightings and shared the results. But logging areas that are documented swift parrot feeding or nesting habitat remain on the logging schedule in 2023. The Huon Valley Grove of Giants (DN007b) is just one example.
The critically endangered Swift Parrot relies on blue gums as its primary food source during their breeding season. The Grove of Giants has been described as the best remaining Swift Parrot habitat by swift parrot researchers primarily due to the large number of mature blue gums.
All government and forestry industry attempts the throw money at this problem while still logging critical habitats have failed. It is time to protect all swift parrot habitat.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging area DN009g featured many tall and large blue gums and it was adjacent to the Grove of Giants (DN007b). It was identified as core swift parrot habitat by swift parrot researchers and subsequently logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania in April 2021.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging area DN007c was adjacent to the Grove of Giants. It featured many tall and large giant trees including the tree pictured above. This log remains in place as it was too big for the loggers to take away. We’ve named this tree Paddy’s Regret, it would have been greater than 280 cubic meters and qualified for protection.
DN007b was identified as core swift parrot habitat by swift parrot researchers and subsequently logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania in November 2019.