"The trees themselves live for thousands of years, they're not found anywhere else on the planet, and they do not recover after anything but the very lightest of fires,"he said.
"We were so close to the fire just sweeping through the most important Huon pine stands that remain on the planet, and I find that just horrifying, shocking, sobering,"he said.
"These Huon pine forests have immense conservation significance, so their survival through this bushfire is a great outcome."
"We use state-of-the art remote camera units coupled with satellite technology to detect dry lightning strikes and monitor for hotspots,"Ms Edwards said.
"We stood to lose, and stand to lose in coming years, this extraordinary legacy of which Tasmania is the guardian."