Government cracks down on firebugs: Maher, Szakacs
Tough new measures to allow authorities to better monitor the movements of convicted bushfire offenders during the fire danger season will be introduced to State Parliament this week. The Bill delivers on an election commitment to help keep the community safe from firebugs.
Self-thinning forest understoreys and wildfire risk debate – Roger Underwood responds
Dear Editor, I am compelled to respond to the naïve and dangerous comments by Professor Phillip Zylstra on forest bushfire management in Western Australia, in your most recent edition. I agree with the Bradshaw critique of Zylstra et al’s paper and I found Professor Zylstra’s defence to be unconvincing.
Philip Zylstra’s fire research: Adding value or creating risk? : Peter Rutherford
Following the critique of a research paper by Zylstra, Bradshaw and Lindenmayer “Self-thinning forest understoreys reduce wildfire risk, even in a warming climate,” by Jack Bradshaw, readers might be interested in some broader analysis of Mr Zylstra’s fire research work ... His research appears to be the base to advocate for what might be described as a wilderness approach to fire management across the broad Australian landscape.
Politically correct fire management
Elders of Australian forestry temporarily reinstated sustainable fire management more than half a century ago, before a new generation of ecologists dismantled it. These new experts employ the Climate Cop-Out to explain the inevitable resurgence of pestilence and megafires. Now Forestry Australia is collaborating with them to ‘reimagine’ our future. To achieve this, they have to reinvent our past.
Philip Zylstra continues the debate – self-thinning forest understoreys and wildfire risk
Our paper published in 2022 shows that, according to DBCA records, bushfires have been seven times more likely on land previously burned by them than on land that they have not burned. Mr Jack Bradshaw’s educated guesses about the causes of karri regeneration prior to 1850 do not change this, they use speculation to distract from the hard evidence we are discussing.
Landmark national bushfire framework to save Australian lives, land and property: Forestry Australia
A landmark new body of work has been released to assist governments and private organisations to tackle Australia’s growing bushfire problem and save lives, land and property. Turning the Goals of the National Bushfire Management Policy Statement into Objectives and Key Performance Indicators aims to guide improvements in bushfire management and provide consistent reporting nationally on achievements.
Self-thinning forest understoreys and wildfire risk debate – Jack Bradshaw responds to Philip Zylstra
In his response to my critique of his paper, Zylstra agrees that the proportion of an area burnt is influenced by the likelihood of a fire starting and the effect of the fire suppression effort. He also agrees that these factors were not taken into account. The degree and direction of bias in their results in therefore unknown, invalidating the results. This is exacerbated by the fact that they have treated the dry north-eastern jarrah forest and the wet karri and tingle forests, with their very different fire behaviour, as one type.
There are two types of people and disasters bring out both
Over my life I have come to the conclusion there are two type of people: the “could have, should have, would haves”, and the helpers. The “could have, should have, would haves” are the majority. They would have handled things differently, ie, “you should have done things differently and then you could have not been in the trouble you are in”. They were out in force this week when television stations showed the frantic efforts to save broodmares in the Goulburn Valley floods.
‘Self thinning forest understoreys reduce wildfire risk, even in a warming climate’: Philip Zylstra responds to Jack Bradshaw
Mr Bradshaw has expressed concerns about the methodology in our paper, but unfortunately, he seems to have fundamentally misunderstood what we did. Without going into that complexity, we will address his core argument here: that the proportion of an area burnt each year is dependent upon the likelihood that a fire will start there, and the amount and effect of fire suppression that occurs there. We thoroughly agree, but the question is whether this reality biases the trends in a way that will cause our results, as he has suggested.
Comment on ‘Self-thinning forest understoreys reduce wildfire risk, even in a warming climate’: Jack Bradshaw
Earlier this year a paper was published in an international journal that argued that if left long enough the southern forest of Western Australia was ‘unlikely to burn’. Furthermore that ‘the predicted likelihood of fire in undisturbed forest was 1 in 208 to 1 in 1149 years.’ In my opinion, the methodology used to obtain the results was so badly flawed as to make the conclusions meaningless.
Prestigious award for Patrick Ross
Chris Oldfield. A high-ranking and prestigious SA Country Fire Service (CFS) award has been bestowed on Lucindale group officer Patrick Ross by State Chief Officer Mark Jones. The rare Chief Officer’s Commendation was awarded for Mr Ross’s leadership, decision making and keeping a cool head during critical emergency situations, while under intense pressure.
Service recognised with medals and clasps
Chris Oldfield. A medal reflecting 60 years of incredible service has been awarded to our distinguished CFS member and author, Rex Hall. Since the launch of his successful book, Forty Flaming Years, in 2007, Mr Hall has penned three more. Mr Hall, one of Naracoorte’s favourite icons, was also a major force behind the town’s SA Volunteer Fire Fighters Museum.
Ashby Hall Reserve group finalist in Crown Land Management Awards
Rodney Stevens. The determination and persistent toil of the Ashby Hall Reserve Crown Land Management committee and volunteers over more than two years has been recognised ... The announcement follows the opening of the Ashby Nature Discovery Trail ... a project born out of the devastation of the 2019 Myall Creek Road bushfire which burned more than 67,000 hectares around Ashby, Tullymorgan, Mororo and Jacky Bulbin Flat.
New release – The 1982-83 Victorian Bushfire Season, Including Ash Wednesday – 16 February 1983 – A Forester’s Perspective
Forty years ago, south eastern Australia was in the middle of a prolonged drought and facing a perilous bushfire season. A new e-book by retired Victorian forester, Peter McHugh, provides a detailed account of the 1982-83 bushfire season from a new perspective ... It was a long and hectic fire season for the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) which attended 878 fires on State forests and National Parks totalling 486,030 ha, which was well above the 11-year average of 141,000 ha.
Dunoon Rural Fire Service
Mike Berry. With wet conditions over the past few years there has been significant growth, particularly of grasses which can quickly dry and cure if we have a burst of hot and particularly windy conditions, increasing the risk of fire ... A few months ago members of Dunoon RFS who were involved for extended periods in the 2019/2020 fire season were presented with a National Medal in recognition of their efforts.
Innovative bush fire tech put to the test: Henskens, Cooke
High-tech sensors which can predict and detect fires and clean energy solutions for bush fire-affected communities are among five innovative ideas being piloted under a landmark NSW Government research and development (R&D) program. Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Alister Henskens said the Bushfire Technology Pilots Program, a total of $6 million over four years, will support trials of field-ready bush fire technology developed by NSW businesses.
Opportunities for economic reform within fire management across South East Australia: John O’Donnell
John O'Donnell considers the economics of bushfire mitigation in Australia and highlights opportunities for economic reform with fire management across South East Australia, critical considering the high ongoing impact of disastrous bushfires.
Fire protection: ‘Past no guide’
Patricia Gill. Noongar cultural burning may offer historical cues for contemporary ï¬re protection but these cannot be relied on to produce a ï¬re resilient landscape. So said environmental historian Professor Andrea Gaynor at the Royal WA Historical Society Conference ... Prof. Gaynor said Noongar burning practices belonged to a mobile culture and were never intended to protect a sedentary society in a landscape which had been subjected to logging, farming and urban development.
More of the great koala scam
Back in May, NSW’s Natural Resources Commission and Department of Primary Industries, as well as three universities, quietly published a report about forest monitoring. It states that north coast koala populations have been stable for the last five years, despite 30 per cent of koala habitat being burnt by the disastrous Black Summer megafires ... NSW bureaucrats obviously know that the koala population wasn’t adversely affected by Black Summer. So, one wonders why they’re not shouting the good news from the rooftops.
Be line aware when hazard reduction burning
During the next few months, many Queensland property owners will be conducting hazard reduction burns to reduce the fuel load to minimise the risk to their properties ahead of fire season ... “In my roles, both with Ergon Energy and also as a volunteer rural firefighter I get to see a lot of examples where fire and electrical assets don’t mix”: Ergon Energy Group Leader, Craig Maddy.
USA fire management update and potential lessons for Australia: John O’Donnell
John O'Donnell considers a recent US report on fire and land management, "Wildland Urban Interface: A Look at Issues and Resolutions", and finds that it holds valuable lessons that could be adapted for Australian land and bushfire management.
Koalas and bushfires
The latest issue of Australian Zoologist is titled “Out of the ashes: Lessons learned from bushfires and how we can better manage our fauna”. But the editorial wrap-up suggests we’ve learnt nothing. It seems our fauna will continue to suffer from mismanagement under a Lock It Up and Let It Burn conservation’ paradigm. The abstract mentions monitoring, mapping and research, but the only reference to management is “use of supplementary resources such as nest boxes and artificial roosts to replace those lost in fires”.
