Gippsland Times, 3 October 2023, Latrobe Valley Express, 4 October 2023

The Victorian government has not replied to the RFA Major Event Review 18 months after it was submitted despite its 37 recommendations on forest management after the devastating 2019-20 bushfires.

The joint Commonwealth-State review, held to assess the impact of the fires on the modernised Regional Forest Agreements, took more than a year to complete and involved feedback from multiple groups. It was prepared by a three-person, expert panel – the Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Dr Gillian Sparkes AM; an independent forestry consultant Dr Tony Bartlett AFSM, and independent forestry consultant; and a Victorian Traditional Owner Katherine Mullett.

The Latrobe Valley Express/Gippsland Times asked the government twice over a week why it had not responded to the review, but received no reply.

Dr Bartlett, as a science adviser to Forestry Australia, took the fight to the National Bushfire Preparedness Summit in Canberra last week.

The 2019-20 fires burnt 1.5 million hectares of forests, including 1.39ha of native forest or 18 per cent of Victoria’s native forests, in Gippsland and the state’s north-east. More than 8000ha of softwood and hardwood plantations were also burnt. “The fires had a devastating impact on Victorian communities, infrastructure and environmental services, the economy, the environment, cultural heritage and community assets,” the panel said. “Tragically, these bushfires resulted in five deaths in Victoria.”

The review made 37 recommendations that identified remedial actions to address the impacts of the bushfires on RFA regions. The recommendations covered many RFA matters including old growth forests, listed species and communities, commercial native forestry, plantations, apiculture, forest and fire management and Traditional Owner matters.

Key recommendations included:

• Improve the integration of zoning systems in forest management plans, national park management plans and bushfire management strategies. This covers better active management strategies for each zone, to reduce bushfire risk and support resilience and recovery of forests and their ecological values;
• Commit to a comprehensive, long-term research and monitoring program to understand repeated severe short-interval bushfires on long-stability of forest ecosystems;
• Commit to joint funding for active forest management in the RFA regions, particularly in a changing climate;
• Several recommendations for Traditional Owners, such as an increase in jobs in forest land management agencies, and reintroduce cultural burning practices;
• Expand ecological burning in public forests and how best to implement fuel reduction;
• Assess the impact of repeated bushfires on threatened species and ecological vegetation classes, including assessing the validity of the current CAR reserve system for listed species and communities in the next five-yearly RFA review;
• Assess the strategies to maintain or enhance the sequestration and storage of carbon in forests, and further investigate mechanical thinning of dense regrowth forests to restore forests to a more open structure; and
• Commission an analysis of the impact of the fires on wood flows to the plantation-based industries.

At the National Bushfire Preparedness Summit, Dr Bartlett advocated for Forestry Australia’s forest fire management position statement. “Regardless of tenure, all land managers should actively manage forests and rangelands to minimise the risk of, and undesirable impacts from, severe bushfires on environmental, social, cultural and economic values,” he said.

“Greater awareness within communities is needed that fire has an important and ongoing role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological processes in Australian forests and rangelands. Land managers should facilitate increased engagement and empowerment of Traditional Custodians to implement cultural burning practices integrated with evidence-based approaches to achieve more ecologically sensitive and culturally appropriate approaches to forest fire management.”

Dr Bartlett said forest fire management strategies and programs should be prepared at the landscape level based on the best available information about fire behaviour and appropriate fire regimes for maintaining forest ecosystem health.

“They should apply the principles of ‘prevent, prepare, manage’, relying on ‘response and recovery’ only as needed. Landowners need a long-term commitment to implement the strategies documented in the National Bushfire Management Policy Statement for forests and rangelands,” he said.

“Their progress towards meeting the national goals should be reviewed annually using a consistent national framework of key performance indicators relevant to specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound objectives.”

Dr Bartlett said protection of plantations from bushfires must be a high priority in bushfire management strategies and responses. “Increased investment in prevention and preparedness activities is essential to achieve enhanced management of fire in the landscape and address the increased risk of more frequent and severe bushfires,” he said.

The president of Forestry Australia, Dr Michelle Freeman, said.Australia’s inaugural National Disaster Preparedness Summit was a timely reminder that being bushfire ready was a 365-day a year job, “It’s great to see the national spotlight on the critically important issue of bushfire preparedness, but this must be more than just a two-day flash in the pan,” Dr Freeman said.

“Being bushfire ready doesn’t happen overnight, it is a 365 day a year job that demands a long-term commitment to evidence-based approaches. To protect human life and forest biodiversity, fire must be strategically planned and managed at a landscape scale and over long timeframes.

“Fire in forests must be supported by legislation, government policy, and ongoing research. Fire must be managed by professionally trained, experienced, and accredited forest managers in partnership with Traditional Custodians, not just emergency service or defence agencies.”