Friends of Maldon Historic Reserve Group, Tarrangower Times
Various local environmental groups including Friends of Maldon Historic Reserve; Maldon Urban Landcare Group; Muckleford Landcare; Muckleford Forest Friends; Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forest and Castlemaine Field Naturalists have been consulting with Fire Forestry Management (FFM) staff since 2022 in regard to the planned burn near the Railway Track in the Maldon Historic Reserve. This included onsite meetings and email updates since then. The burn was originally planned to take place in Autumn 2023 but was postponed due to weather conditions not being suitable for a low-intensity burn.
Concerns were raised about how the fire might impact flora and fauna in the burn and surrounding areas. Several patches of the Small-flowered grevillea, Grevillea micrantha, rare in our district, plus various other wildflowers, including orchids, were within the designated area to be burned. FFM were willing to listen and, after walking these areas with staff, it was agreed that areas where these rare species were growing would be excluded from the planned burn area.
Two members of the Friends of Maldon Historic Reserve met the Operations Manager for FFM, on Monday 5 May for a pre-burn meeting. He explained the procedures that would be followed when the burn is ignited and invited us to drive the site with him once the burn was going.
The burn was ignited on Friday 9 May and we accompanied the manager on the next day to view progress. He explained that the fire is a low-intensity burn to remove 4cm of potential fuel and prevent future elevated bushfire hazards. A pre-burn fire was lit to create smoke so that animals could get away. He advised that staff had relocated several lizards following the pre-burn.
There were 35 FFM staff both lighting and patrolling the site. The area burned is approx. 110 hectares divided up into blocks. Melbourne University staff/students had placed temperature probes around the site to measure heat levels. The weather conditions over the period of the burn and subsequently were ideal i.e. clear skies, little wind and correct moisture levels.
From what we heard and observed first-hand, this seemed like a well-planned and executed controlled burn. It was conducted over three days and completed on the afternoon of Sunday 11 May and is now being patrolled. The Operations Manager has invited us to accompany him to check the outcome in around eight weeks’ time.
This article appeared in Tarrangower Times, 23 May 2025.
