Lynn Webb frowns at a fallen gum tree.
The photographer is standing in a remote corner of the Great Western Woodlands, 700 kilometres east of Perth.
The tree, which he believes is a Eucalyptus salubris or gimlet, has clearly been cut with an axe or chainsaw.
He suspects rogue operators were after its seeds.
Demand for native seeds has exploded, as companies become increasingly interested in rehabilitation, fuelling a rise in seed prices.
According to online seed merchant Nindethana, gimlet seeds are now selling for $1,000 a kilogram.
The seeds of the salmon gum, also found in the region, have hit $8,000 a kilogram.
Harvesting wild seeds to supply merchants and nurseries requires a licence from WA’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), or permission from the landowner on private land.
But it should not result in sawn-off branches littering the ground.
Mr Webb believes illegal seed harvesters are damaging the trees. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
“Instead of just harvesting the seeds from the tips and taking the tips off, they’ve cut the tree off at the base and sliced the seed-bearing branches off the top of that,” Mr Webb says.
“They didn’t need to do that.
“There’s plenty of tools that extend so you can cut the twigs off the top instead of [bringing] the whole trunk of the tree down.”
He suggests it is the work of licensed seed collectors going about their business the wrong way, or unlicensed harvesters.
The Great Western Woodlands cover about 160,000 square kilometres across south-eastern WA. (Supplied: Remote Sensing of Environment)
Either way, he worries the dubious practice is going unchecked in the Great Western Woodlands, the largest ecosystem of its kind on the planet.
“I’ve never really noticed it as such until we discovered this site,” he says.
“But now when I go out I do notice that it’s very extensive and widespread.”
One of the damaged trees near Norseman. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Shire of Dundas CEO Peter Fitchat says the issue has been reported to DBCA.
The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 states fines for taking flora from crown land without authorisation are $50,000 or upwards of $200,000 for specially protected flora.
Huge demand for trees, seed
Mr Fitchat suggests surging demand for trees and seeds was fuelling interest in illegal seed harvesting.
“Native trees are sought after,” he says.
“We’ve got $50,000 in the [shire] budget to plant trees.
“[But] we can’t get trees – decent sized, plant-ready trees.”
Locals say the woodlands’ size and remoteness makes enforcement difficult. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Renowned West Australian botanist Kingsley Dixon says demand for seeds is “rising at an astronomical rate” due to an explosion in carbon sequestration and mine site rehabilitation projects.
“[They want] to put in native trees at essentially any cost,” Professor Dixon said.
“The demand for seed outstrips any ethical supply chains.”
Sap leaks from a cut tree. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
He says one of the major issues is that most projects rely on seed harvested from the wild.
It is a practice he believes the government should aim to stamp out, by providing incentives for seed farming.
“It is high time Australia joined the rest of the world and stopped this archaic process of wild harvesting,” he says.
“We stopped picking of wildflowers 30 years ago.”
Work is underway to develop Seed Production Areas in parts of the Goldfields, Pilbara and Kimberley to take the pressure off wild supply.
Professor Dixon also says inefficient planting methods mean most seed that goes in the ground is wasted.
Kingsley Dixon says the issue of illegal seed harvesting warrants more government attention. (ABC News: Cason Ho)
But he also believes the government should crack down on those breaking the rules, by increasing the penalties for illegal practices and providing more robust training through the licensing system.
“I think it’s very clear that the scale is probably much greater than we’re even seeing,” he says.
Some have suggested the destruction of one or two trees will have a negligible toll on the environment.
Professor Dixon warns against such thinking.
“We’ve made that mistake around the world,” he says.
The seeds of some native trees can trade for thousands of dollars per kilogram. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
“I was raised in Banksia Woodlands [in the Perth region]. We thought they were inexhaustible. Now they’re a threatened ecological community.
“I’ve had farms in the Wheatbelt and we thought the Wheatbelt Woodlands, with all their wonderful orchids, went on forever. Now they’re all a threatened ecological community.
“What is common always becomes rare.”
‘Reputational risk’
But Revegatation Industry Association of WA chair Linda Metz believes dodgy operators will be caught out by savvy customers.
She says most people in the native plants industry are conscious of ensuring wild harvested seed stocks are sustainable, and would be reluctant to deal with unlicensed operators.
“It’s quite difficult for [illegal seed harvesting] to be very lucrative,” Ms Metz says.
“There’s a real reputational risk for the seed merchant. It’s certainly not in their best interest to take seed from unlicensed operators.
“[So buyers will be asking], ‘Where has the seed come from? When was it collected? Who was it collected by?’ So it’s actually traceable.”
Branches surround a tree in bushland near Norseman. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
She says unlicensed operators are also more likely to harvest poor quality seed.
“It’s actually pretty hard just to palm off substandard seed and think that you’re going to attract that kind of price,” Ms Metz says.
She believes any illegal seed collecting in the Great Western Woodlands is opportunistic and would not necessarily pay off.
But Professor Dixon says there is no way to tell if a harvester has breached licence conditions, for example, by chainsawing down branches to access seed.
He also believes penalties for breaking the rules should be steeper.
“The demand for nature to be reinstated and restored across vast landscapes is increasing.
“We need now appropriate regulatory and investment processes by government to match the demand for biodiverse native seed.
“And we’re not seeing that at all within this state.”
Difficult to monitor
Wildflower Society of WA president Brett Loney has long been concerned by illegal harvesting of native flora.
He says the risk is not only in what is intentionally taken, but what is unintentionally destroyed.
Brett Loney is worried not only about what is taken but what is unintentionally destroyed. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)
“They could be chopping down a rare species or an endangered species,” he says.
“Because they exist amongst the eucalyptus as much as they exist amongst other species of plant.”
He too notices surging demand from the carbon sequestration industry and mining companies had most nurseries running “flat out”.
The Shire of Dundas is concerned by the chopped, damaged trees. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
He suggests making licence application forms more user-friendly may reduce some instances of illegal flora harvesting.
“It is quite an onerous process,” he says.
But he believes the practice is extremely hard to police, due to the vastness of Western Australia’s outback.
“You don’t get a lot of management people in those areas,” he said.
Mr Webb inspects a felled tree. (ABC Esperance: Emily Smith)
Mr Webb says patrolling the Great Western Woodlands, an area larger than many European countries, would be almost impossible.
But he wants visitors to show more care.
“It’s just the lack of respect,” he says.
“Enough destruction goes on in the bush. They don’t need to do that.”