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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.
‘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.
Squeezing yield from rain – the Wheatbelt story: Robert Onfray
Robert Onfray. Many negatives are written about the clearing associated with developing Western Australia’s Wheatbelt into a farming paradise ... The Wheatbelt has played a pivotal role in a trend that has seen world poverty and starvation decrease despite a 50 per cent increase in the world's population since 1990 to over 7.8 billion people.
New direction for Southern Forests water security: MacTiernan, Kelly
The WA Government has determined not to proceed with the Southern Forests Irrigation Scheme in its current form, as the climate modelling indicates the dam on Record Brook is not viable. Reports by CSIRO found climate change and lowering of the water table has significantly altered the supply of available water from the Donnelly River.
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.
Another step for rare earths
Chris Oldfield. A Koppamurra Landholder Reference Group (KLRG) has been formed by Australian Rare Earths as it takes another step towards developing a mining lease application ... The aim of the landholder reference group is to share information and seek feedback on the Koppamurra project.
Nuke study call
A former scientist with the State Electricity Commission, the Latrobe Valley’s Ray Burgess, has scathingly attacked AGL’s plan to close Loy Yang A station by 2035, calling it “fairyland thinking” ... Mr Burgess said if a low carbon society was mandated by the voting public, “then we need to seriously be considering a nuclear future, and quickly”.
Dowden explores human element of wild dog management: National Wild Dog Action Plan
Managing wild dogs is not easy work with community engagement simply not about the deployment of tools into the landscape by the people whose assets are threatened by incursions. According to Western Australian landholder Debbie Dowden, it requires human action, which means working within the complex dynamics of human nature.
Informed consent
A highly esteemed, award-winning NHS consultant cardiologist with international regard when it comes to diagnosing, preventing and managing heart disease has released a peer reviewed paper calling for the immediate halt of Covid-19 vaccine roll out ... “It cannot be said that the consent to receive these agents was fully informed, as is required ethically and legally,” Dr Malhotra said. It was the death of his father, a very prominent doctor, one of the most respected doctors in the UK, and vice president of the British Medical Association that started his investigation.
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.
A sketchy history of Blackburn Island
When English historian, Derek Neville, was researching letters written by David Blackburn, navigator and ‘master’ of the First Fleet vessel Supply, he was disappointed to discover that the small island in the Lagoon at Lord Howe had lost its original name – ‘Blackburn Isle’. This name had been given to it by Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball in March, 1788, when the very first landing was made at Lord Howe.
Rabobank agri commodity markets research – September 2022: winter recess
Commodity markets are pondering the risk of a recession, especially in the EU-27+UK, where inflation and monetary tightening are combining with a looming winter energy crisis. A recession could weaken the demand side for a number of energy and luxury commodities.
Dispelling myths about water: Ron Pike
The myths about water are many. They range from Australia being the driest continent on earth, to all of our rivers dying from overuse, right up to the government being required to return water to the environment ... here are some not-so-well-known facts that should be shouted out in the present flood of misinformation about our water resources.
Reimagining river futures by reshaping water infrastructure
Catastrophic floods and droughts are currently being experienced across the world. Paul Wyrwoll and Quentin Grafton argue that our existing approaches to managing water are not working. We need a new paradigm for how we manage water, a rethinking where human societies work with and nurture the hydrological cycle, instead of trying to master it.
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.
Next generation of researchers ready to take on Australia’s biosecurity and invasive species challenges: CISS
The capability of scientists investigating solutions to Australia’s invasive pest problems shone out at the Australian Academy of Science’s Shine Dome in Canberra earlier this month at an event hosted by the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions ... “Graduates of our Balanced Researcher Program are now adding to Australia’s biosecurity and invasive species research and innovation within the government and university sectors...": Andreas Glanznig, Chief Executive, CISS.
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.
Bank petition a chance to be heard
Regional Australians angry over continued bank closures have a chance to have their voice heard in federal parliament. The Regional’s Australian parliamentary petition calling for an immediate moratorium on closures and a new banking inquiry has been approved and can be signed online until 12.29am on October 6. It comes as the number of regional ‘big four’ banks looks set to slip below 1000 by the end of the year, a reduction of nearly two thirds of their network since 1975.
National honey bee genetics program rolls on
Plan Bee, Australia’s national honey bee genetic improvement program has had its hives at Tocal Agricultural College euthanised as part of the all-of-industry response to the 2022 varroa mite incursion. Prior to the hive euthanasia, selected highest value queen bees were removed securely and re-homed to ensure these genetics are banked for future breeding and research.
Sundew Spring! A new unexplored field and multiple new species of carnivorous plants discovered in the Kimberley
Botanists have stumbled across a new and unexplored field of carnivorous plants along with multiple new species of the animal-eating flora at the remote Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley. The new site, aptly named Sundew Spring, was discovered by Curtin University PhD candidate and botanist Thilo Krueger, his academic co-supervisor Dr Andreas Fleischmann and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) Wildlife Ecologist Dr Tom Sayers while conducting research at the AWC managed sanctuary.
Q fever findings a timely post-pandemic reminder for biosecurity vigilance: AgriFutures
After more than six years of multi-disciplinary research, the Q Fever Group ... has released the findings of its flagship research project, Taking the Q (query) out of Q fever. The project findings fell into three broad themes; improving knowledge and management of Q fever in dairy goat herds; understanding Q fever in the environment; and structures to support Q fever management across the human, animal and environmental health sectors.
