Fire

The bulk of this commentary has little to do with the content of the Report to the NSW Natural Resources Commission. The report addresses the consequences of the 2019/20 fires for the objectives and outcomes of the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals (i.e. forest health, threatened species conservation, water quality and aquatic biodiversity). The 2019/20 fires have rendered forests, in relation to these objectives and outcomes, in a highly vulnerable state because of their magnitude and severity. This vulnerability will be ongoing and challenging to deal with because the efficacy of all facets of fire management (e.g. preparation, prevention, suppression) will be adversely affected by climate change.

More than 100,000 acres of pastoral land in Cape York has been lit up by a fire bug on the Peninsula Developmental Road ... “The cost is astronomical. Not only do the domestic herd of cattle now need to be fed, but we’ve lost carbon credits and been pulled away from our regular work looking after the environment. There's also a massive psychological cost when it comes to fighting fires": Sally Gray, Piccaninny Plains.

With just two days’ notice, community volunteers at the heart of the Koondrook Perricoota co-design welcomed a shiny entourage of politicians, bureaucrats and media. The whistlestop tour was part of a $330 million funding announcement with no less than five state and federal politicians ... The Koondrook Perricoota project has been a white elephant of government spending with the $120 million over-designed project sitting idle.

People proliferated across Australia, which was then a part of Sahul, from about 40 000 years ago when megafauna finally disappeared long before the Last Glacial Maximum. Aboriginal burning initially turned much biomass into charcoal, reducing browse, changing vegetation and causing megafaunal extinctions. It created ecosystems whose health and safety depend on constant human input of mild fire.

John O'Donnell. In contrast to the temperate southern regions of Australia, fire events in Central Australia are driven by above average rainfall in the preceding years, rather than below average rainfall or drought in the current year. Widespread fire events in Central Australia were found to be associated with two or more consecutive years of above-average rainfall. Fuel loads in long-unburnt grassland can get to high levels.

A drone has successfully established an ecological planned burn in the Grampians National Park, saving time and reducing the risk to firefighters, as part of a trial carried out by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) crews in the Wimmera.

A project is getting underway on Kangaroo Island to provide producers with the tools, skills, and management options to ensure ewe fertility and lamb survival is not compromised because of the bushfires impacting on pasture composition.

New research from the University of Wollongong, a partner at the NSW Bushfire Research Hub, has found climate change will expose larger areas of forest in coastal NSW to higher frequency and more intense fires, amplifying the changes to fire regimes brought about by the 2019/20 fires ... Amongst other findings: Previous timber harvesting did not increase the fire extent or severity of the 2019/20 fires. However, there is potential for cumulative impacts in harvested landscapes that are subject to fire, particularly in the next 5 to 10 years.

A partnership between the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation and a major bank has helped preserve Cape York country and employ a number of Traditional Owners. As part of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s carbon neutrality, the bank supports traditional Aboriginal fire management generating Australian Carbon Credit Units for the second year running.

An open letter from Chris Hardman, Chief Fire Officer, Forest Fire Management Victoria. As the Chief Fire Officer for Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic), my role is to keep the community and our environment safe from bushfire risk. More than ever, the impacts of climate change and its impact on the work we do is at the forefront of our thinking, planning and actions.

The Victorian Government has tabled the second phase report from the Inspector-General for Emergency Management’s (IGEM) independent inquiry into the 2019-20 Victorian fire season.

There was nothing new or unexpected about the recently announced NSW Natural Resources Commission research on timber harvesting and koalas ... There’s nothing in the NRC report that actually deserves a tick. It’s a well-established historical and scientific fact that koalas are an irruptive species which responds positively to soft new growth ... Declining trees continuously resprout soft young growth until they eventually run out of resources. Koalas breed up in declining forests.

In many ways this captivating book describes the relationship between the author, Lachlan Hughson, and his much loved Australian Outback. In travels rivalling those of Odysseus in extent, the author takes us across the vast expanse of the ancient Australian continent, mixing geological insights, historical background, and personal experiences with vivid descriptions of nature in all its forms.

Friends of the Koala. A koala so badly injured from the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires, vets didn't think she'd make it, has been spotted in the wild with a joey. Ember was found in November 2019 walking on the burnt ground in Whiporie, New South Wales after devastating fires swept through the area ... Some 18 months later, in the same area where she was released, Ember has been spotted with a joey of her own. She was sighted thriving in the wild with her joey by the person who rescued her – Ros Irwin.

BlazeAid Tumbarumba camp returned in July this year with a plan to assist fire affected farmers in the southern region of the Snowy Valleys. Despite the rain interruptions and the state-wide lockdown for Covid, the camp remained operating, even when, at one stage, they were down to two volunteers ... The small crew in Tumbarumba put in the equivalent of 287 days helping farmers since July. The work included over 11km of fence removed, averaging 63 m per day. The camp also rebuilt a total of 18kms of new fencing.

The Tasmanian Government is continually monitoring new scientific research to ensure the way we regulate forestry is contemporary and consistent with best practice. The Government takes bushfire management and mitigation incredibly seriously and is taking a number of important steps to manage future risk and keep our communities safe. The Government’s position, that actively managing our forests can markedly reduce fuel loads, is supported by a significant number of scientific publications.

Grass and crop fires are the greatest concern for the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), with the official bushfire season across NSW underway. After spending two months assisting with wildfires burning in the northern hemisphere, the 737 Large Air Tanker (LAT), ‘Marie Bashir’, has returned to NSW, and will be ready to assist firefighters to save lives and properties here, as part of the RFS aerial fleet.

Up to 60,000 tonnes of softwood logs will start to be shipped off Kangaroo Island to support South Australia’s forestry sector and booming housing construction industry, with applications to the Construction Softwood Transport Assistance Program (CSTAP) now open. The CSTAP is jointly funded by the Morrison Coalition Government and Marshall Liberal Government and provides assistance to freight bushfire-affected softwood logs salvaged from Kangaroo Island to the South Australian mainland and then to sawmills with immediate capacity to process structural timber.

It took three fire trucks, two water trucks, and an excavator to put out a fire at the Lakes Creek Road Waste Management Facility ... “If you ever tossed an old mobile phone or even a battery in your general waste and thought ‘what could be the harm?’, well incidents like this are the answer,” Councillor Latcham said.

There is much debate within the scientific community regarding the relationship between bushfire and forestry but what is not debated is the overwhelming impact climate change is having on the frequency and intensity of severe weather events and resulting bushfires. In the past 50-years there has been a 40% increase in very high fire danger days, and this is set to triple in some parts of Victoria by the end of the century according to the International Journal of Wildland Fire.