tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/bushfire-management-25245/articles
Bushfire management – The Conversation
2024-03-11T19:12:49Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225263
2024-03-11T19:12:49Z
2024-03-11T19:12:49Z
Indigenous fire management began more than 11,000 years ago: new research
<p>Wildfire burns between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111493">3.94 million and 5.19 million square kilometres</a> of land every year worldwide. If that area were a single country, it would be the seventh largest in the world. </p>
<p>In Australia, most fire occurs in the vast tropical savannas of the country’s north. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01388-3">new research</a> published in Nature Geoscience, we show Indigenous management of fire in these regions began at least 11,000 years ago – and possibly as long as 40,000 years ago.</p>
<h2>Fire and humans</h2>
<p>In most parts of the planet, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-060614-105038">fire has always affected</a> the <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/carbon-cycle/">carbon cycle</a>, the distribution of plants, how ecosystems function, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-biodiversity-and-why-does-it-matter-9798">biodiversity</a> patterns more generally.</p>
<p>But climate change and other effects of human activity are making wildfires more common and more severe in many regions, often with catastrophic results. In Australia, fires have caused major economic, environmental and personal losses, most recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0716-1">in the south of the country</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-bad-fire-year-australia-records-over-450-000-hotspots-these-maps-show-where-the-risks-have-increased-over-20-years-204679">In a bad fire year, Australia records over 450,000 hotspots. These maps show where the risks have increased over 20 years</a>
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<p>One likely reason for the increase of catastrophic fires in Australia is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-land-is-burning-and-western-science-does-not-have-all-the-answers-100331">end of Indigenous fire management</a> after Europeans arrived. This change has caused a <a href="https://theconversation.com/research-reveals-fire-is-pushing-88-of-australias-threatened-land-mammals-closer-to-extinction-185965">decline in biodiversity</a> and the buildup of burnable material, or “<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-only-one-way-to-make-bushfires-less-powerful-take-out-the-stuff-that-burns-129323">fuel load</a>”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Infographic showing the process of extracting and analysing a sediment core." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1697&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580362/original/file-20240307-22-4djhm5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1697&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How sediment coring works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://EpicAustralia.org.au">Emma Rehn, Haidee Cadd, Kelsey Boyd / Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage</a></span>
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<p>While southern fires have been particularly damaging in recent years, more than two-thirds of all Australia’s wildfires happen during the dry season in the tropical savannas of the north. These grasslands cover about 2 million square kilometres, or around a quarter of the country. </p>
<p>When Europeans first saw these tropical savannas, they believed they were seeing a <a href="https://theconversation.com/world-first-research-confirms-australias-forests-became-catastrophic-fire-risk-after-british-invasion-176563">“natural” environment</a>. However, we now think these landscapes were maintained by Indigenous fire management (dubbed “<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf30ff26df8f90001ae648d/t/5fde80827f4e6a336722c664/1608417413847/Rhys+jones+Fire-stick+farming.pdf">firestick farming</a>” in the 1960s). </p>
<p>Indigenous fire management is a complex process that involves strategically burning small areas throughout the dry season. In its absence, savannas have seen the kind of larger, higher-intensity fires occurring late in the dry season that likely existed before people, when lightning was the sole source of ignition. </p>
<p>We know fire was one of the main tools Indigenous people used to manipulate fuel loads, maintain vegetation and enhance biodiversity. We do not know the time frames over which the “natural” fire regime was transformed into one managed by humans.</p>
<h2>A 150,000-year record of fire and climate</h2>
<p>To understand this transformation better, we took an 18-metre core sample from sediment at Girraween Lagoon on the outskirts of Darwin. Using this sample, we developed detailed pollen records of vegetation and charcoal, and paired them with geochemical records of climate and fire to reveal how fire patterns have changed over the past 150,000 years.</p>
<p>Now surrounded by suburbs, Girraween Lagoon (the “Place of Flowers”) is a significant site to the <a href="https://larrakia.com/about/the-larrakia-people/">Larrakia</a> and <a href="https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/n29">Wulna</a> peoples. It is also where the <a href="https://youtu.be/MH_MObR3G54?si=KyYkZuyewCrHvtmj">crocodile-attack scene</a> in the movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090555/">Crocodile Dundee</a> was filmed.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MH_MObR3G54?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>The lagoon was created after a sinkhole formed, and has contained permanent water ever since. The sediment core we took contains a unique 150,000-year record of environmental change in Australia’s northern savannas. </p>
<p>The core records revealed a dynamic, changing environment. The vegetation around Girraween Lagoon today has a tall and relatively dense tree canopy with a thick grass understory in the wet season. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-once-lived-in-a-vast-region-in-north-western-australia-and-it-had-an-inland-sea-219505">People once lived in a vast region in north-western Australia – and it had an inland sea</a>
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<p>However, during the last ice age 20,000–30,000 years ago, the site where Darwin sits now was more than 300 km from the coast due to the sea level dropping as the polar ice caps expanded. At that time, the lagoon shrank into its sinkhole and it was surrounded by open, grassy savanna with fewer, shorter trees. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a collection of clear tubes filled with dark sediment." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580318/original/file-20240307-30-rr2em0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sediment cores retrieved from Girraween Lagoon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Bird / James Cook University</span></span>
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<p>Around 115,000 years ago, and again around 90,000 years ago, Australia was dotted with gigantic inland “<a href="https://theconversation.com/drying-inland-seas-probably-helped-kill-australias-megafauna-37527">megalakes</a>”. At those times, the lagoon expanded into a large, shallow depression surrounded by lush monsoon forest, with almost no grass. </p>
<h2>When human fire management began</h2>
<p>The Girraween record is one of the few long-term climate records that covers the period before people arrived in Australia some <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22968">65,000 years ago</a>, as well as after. This unique coverage provides us with the hard data indicating when the natural fire regime (infrequent, high-intensity fires) switched to a human-managed one (frequent, low-intensity fires).</p>
<p>The data show that by at least 11,000 years ago, as the climate began to resemble the modern climate that established itself after the last ice age, fires became more frequent but less intense.</p>
<p>Frequent, low-intensity fire is the hallmark of Indigenous fire regimes that were observed across northern Australia at European arrival. Our data also showed tantalising indications that this change from a natural to human-dominated fire regime occurred progressively from as early as 40,000 years ago, but it certainly did not occur instantaneously. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo showing green shoots of plant life springing up in a burnt landscape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580320/original/file-20240307-28-bu5jp9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Vegetation recovering after a human-ignited ‘cool’ fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cassandra Rowe / James Cook University</span></span>
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<p>Unlocking Girraween’s secrets with modern scientific techniques has provided unprecedented insights into how the tropical savannas of Australia, and their attendant biodiversity, coevolved over millennia under this new Indigenous fire regime that reduced risk and increased resources.</p>
<p>The rapid change to a European fire regime – with large, intense fires occurring late in the dry season – abruptly regressed patterns to the pre-human norm. This ecosystem-scale shock altered a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1494">carefully nurtured</a> biodiversity established over tens of thousands of years and simultaneously <a href="https://i.unu.edu/media/tfm.unu.edu/page/384/fire-regimes-in-north-Australian-savannas.pdf">increased greenhouse gas emissions</a>.</p>
<p>Reversing these dangerous trends in Australia’s tropical savanna requires <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2001.00555.x">re-establishing an Indigenous fire regime</a> through projects such as the <a href="https://carbonmarketinstitute.org/projects/west-arnhem-land-fire-abatement-walfa-project/">West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement</a> managed by Indigenous land managers. By implication, the reintroduction of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022218118">Indigenous land management</a> in other parts of the world could help reduce the impacts of catastrophic fires and increase carbon sequestration in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cassandra Rowe receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey J. A. Bradshaw receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Bird receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
Indigenous fire management shaped Australian tropical savannas over millennia, until the arrival of Europeans pushed the landscape back into a dangerous, unmanaged state.
Cassandra Rowe, Research Fellow, James Cook University
Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University
Michael Bird, JCU Distinguished Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, James Cook University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210066
2023-07-31T04:21:28Z
2023-07-31T04:21:28Z
Fire in northern Australia’s tropical savanna is a threat to endangered fairy-wrens
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538943/original/file-20230724-29-6y7d1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=209%2C383%2C2977%2C1685&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Teunissen/AWC</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wildfire threatens the survival of endangered <a href="https://ebird.org/species/pucfai2?siteLanguage=en_AU">purple-crowned fairy-wrens</a> living along the rivers and creeks of northern Australia, our new research has found.</p>
<p>For <a href="https://www.australianwildlife.org/15-years-of-research-reveals-secrets-of-rare-purple-crowned-fairywrens/">almost two decades</a>, we studied the fairy-wrens at a <a href="https://www.australianwildlife.org/where-we-work/mornington-marion-downs/">wildlife sanctuary</a> in the far north of Western Australia. </p>
<p>Over this time, one low-intensity fire and one high-intensity fire burnt through our study site. Both occurred late in the wet season, when fires generally burn at lower intensity. But drought and weather conditions meant the second fire unexpectedly burnt at high intensity instead. </p>
<p>We wanted to find out what happened to the birds before, during and after each fire. We found even low-intensity burns reduced population density. As this species is a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2011.02331.x">biological indicator</a> of ecosystem health, our <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14463">new research</a>
can help fine-tune fire management practices, to reduce the extent and intensity of fires along waterways. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A male purple-crowned fairy-wren with food in his beak, among plants on the river bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540082/original/file-20230731-234595-iw5lzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Purple-crowned fairy-wrens indicate habitat health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Teunissen/AWC</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/savanna-burning-carbon-pays-for-conservation-in-northern-australia-12185">Savanna burning: carbon pays for conservation in northern Australia</a>
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<h2>Fire in the tropics</h2>
<p>Fire is particularly <a href="https://fireecology.springeropen.com/articles/10.4996/fireecology.0301048">common</a> in tropical monsoonal savanna. The vegetation thrives during the wet season, then dries out over the dry season. This creates plenty of fuel late in the dry season, leading to frequent fires. </p>
<p>Deliberately introducing fire in the early dry season, when fires generally burn at low intensity, can reduce large intense wildfires later in the year. So fire management is often used for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13198">conservation</a> and <a href="https://www.icin.org.au/">carbon farming</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A creek with plants growing on the bank" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538944/original/file-20230724-29-yla81f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Riparian zones provide vital habitat and support a range of species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Teunissen/AWC</span></span>
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<p>But approaches to fire management that best protect “riparian” communities are relatively poorly understood. Riparian zones are the strips of vegetation along creeks and rivers. They play an important role in tropical savanna landscapes. They support a highly <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00439.x">diverse range of species</a>, provide corridors for animals to move through the landscape, and form a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0205156">cool refuge</a> from heat and drought. </p>
<p>Unfortunately they are also particularly <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13794">sensitive to fire</a>, making it ever more urgent to better protect these key places. </p>
<p>Understanding how riparian fire affects the species that depend on waterway vegetation for their entire life cycle is a good place to start. </p>
<h2>Fairy-wrens and fire</h2>
<p>We study a population of 200-300 <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=64442">purple-crowned fairy-wrens</a> (<em>Malurus coronatus coronatus</em>) along 15km of waterways. </p>
<p>Each bird in this population has been tagged with a unique small coloured leg band. This enables us to recognise individuals and follow them throughout their life. </p>
<p>We gather detailed information on bird survival, movement and reproduction. This is key to quantifying how – and to what extent – fire impacts populations.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Landscape after fire" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538969/original/file-20230724-29-2q5eep.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High-intensity fire greatly reduced the quality of riparian habitat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Roast/AWC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our study we found both low-intensity and high-intensity fire reduced the number of fairy-wrens in the burnt areas for at least two and a half years. The effect of high-intensity fire was much stronger, reducing the number of fairy-wrens by half.</p>
<p>Next, we investigated what mechanism caused these declines. We showed birds did not move out of burnt habitat, probably because they live in such well-defined territories year-round. </p>
<p>Instead, we found the low-intensity fire reduced breeding success by 80% during and shortly after the fire. </p>
<p>The high-intensity fire caused a decline in wrens through a different mechanism. We found birds in the fire-affected area were no more likely to die during the fire itself than birds in adjacent unburnt areas. Yet, they were 30% more likely to die over the next two to eight months after the fire. </p>
<p>This is probably because the quality of the riparian habitat was greatly reduced by this fire, which may have made it harder for the birds to find food, cover from predators, or find protection from the heat in subsequent months. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A purple-crowned fairy-wren and nest among plants on the river bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538999/original/file-20230724-19-yf2s2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Low-intensity fire reduces breeding success of purple-crowned fairy-wrens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Teunissen/AWC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protecting riparian zones from fire</h2>
<p>Wildfires are becoming more <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332221001299">frequent and severe</a> as climate change worsens. These changes are <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb0355">transforming natural systems</a> and threatening the diversity of life on Earth. We saw this in Australia in 2019-20, when the <a href="https://theconversation.com/200-experts-dissected-the-black-summer-bushfires-in-unprecedented-detail-here-are-6-lessons-to-heed-198989">Black Summer fires</a> pushed many species closer to extinction.</p>
<p>More frequent and severe fire is forecast for riparian zones, for various reasons. For example, extended droughts as well as large flood events (which deposit woody debris as fuel for fire), <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-007-9048-5">increase the risk</a> of severe riparian fires. Additionally, riparian strips can become a corridor for fire under certain conditions.</p>
<p>The challenge for land managers is to minimise the impact of fire when it eventually enters the riparian zone. We suggest fire management can be used to reduce the extent and intensity of riparian fires. In particular, we recommend introducing low-intensity burns parallel and perpendicular to riparian zones so they have minimal impact yet create breaks along these riparian corridors, to prevent large sections burning at once.</p>
<p>Our study indicates the high sensitivity of riparian zones to fire, even when fire occurs during the wet season and burns at low intensity. Our findings call for more consideration by fire managers of the effects of fire on riparian habitat, and for further research to enhance our understanding of savanna riparian fire biology.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A male purple-crowned fairy-wren, among plants on the river bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538945/original/file-20230724-17-2n8a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Individual birds in this study can be recognised by their coloured leg bands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Teunissen/AWC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-best-fire-management-system-is-in-northern-australia-and-its-led-by-indigenous-land-managers-133071">The world's best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it's led by Indigenous land managers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p><em>Our research was conducted in collaboration with scientists and land managers from Charles Darwin University and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niki Teunissen received funding from Monash University and the Australian Research Council, and holds an Adjunct Research Associate position at Monash University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Peters receives funding and support from Australian Research Council, Monash University and Australian Wildlife Conservancy.</span></em></p>
A study of purple-crowned fairy-wrens offers lessons for fire management along waterways in tropical savanna ecosystems.
Niki Teunissen, Postdoctoral researcher, Wageningen University
Anne Peters, Professor, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209126
2023-07-05T07:10:20Z
2023-07-05T07:10:20Z
It’s official: Australia is set for a hot, dry El Niño. Here’s what that means for our flammable continent
<p>An El Niño event has <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/world-meteorological-organization-declares-onset-of-el-ni%C3%B1o-conditions">arrived</a>, according to the World Meteorological Organization, raising fears of record high global temperatures, extreme weather and, in Australia, a severe fire season. </p>
<p>The El Niño is a reminder that bushfires are part of Australian life – especially as human-caused global warming worsens. But there are a few important considerations to note.</p>
<p>First, <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/updates/articles/a008-el-nino-and-australia.shtml">not all</a> El Niño years result in bad bushfires. The presence of an El Niño is only one factor that determines the prevalence of bushfires. Other factors, such as the presence of drought, also come into play. </p>
<p>And second, whether or not this fire season is a bad one, Australia must find a more sustainable and effective way to manage bushfires. The El Niño threat only makes the task more urgent.</p>
<h2>Understanding fire in Australia</h2>
<p>An El Niño is <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/june-2023-enso-update-el-ni%C3%B1o-here">declared</a> when the sea surface temperature in large parts of the tropical Pacific Ocean warms significantly. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/world-meteorological-organization-declares-onset-of-el-ni%C3%B1o-conditions">statement</a> by the World Meteorological Organization, released on Tuesday, said El Niño conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years “setting the stage for a likely surge in global temperatures and disruptive weather and climate patterns”.</p>
<p>The organisation says there’s a 90% probability of the El Niño event continuing during the second half of 2023. It said El Niño can trigger extreme heat and also cause severe droughts over Australia and other parts of the world.</p>
<p>But before we start planning ahead for the next bushfire season, it’s important to understand what drives bushfire risks – and the influence of climate change, fire management and events such as El Niño.</p>
<p>The evidence for human-induced climate change is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/">irrefutable</a>. While the global climate has changed significantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/while-we-fixate-on-coronavirus-earth-is-hurtling-towards-a-catastrophe-worse-than-the-dinosaur-extinction-130869">in the past</a>, the current changes are occurring at an unprecedented rate. </p>
<p>In geologic time scales, before the influence of humans, a significant <a href="https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/pub?list=BRO&pid=procite:13c02405-e8c6-466c-a400-f6137710a651">shift</a> in climate has been <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/6836/">associated</a> with an increase in fire activity in Australia. There is every reason to expect fire activity will increase with human-induced climate change as well.</p>
<p>Humans have also changed the Australian fire landscape – both First Nations people and, for the past 200 years, European colonisers. </p>
<p>Changes brought about by Indigenous Australians were widespread, but <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32378038/">sustainable</a>. Their methods included, for example, lighting “cool” fires in small, targeted patches early in the dry season. This reduced the chance that very large and intense fires would develop.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-land-is-burning-and-western-science-does-not-have-all-the-answers-100331">Our land is burning, and Western science does not have all the answers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aborigines Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos, by Joseph Lycett. Indigenous people have used cultural fire practices for thousands of years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Changes brought about by European colonisers have also been widespread – such as land clearing using fire, and fire suppression to protect human life and property. But this approach has been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/30388718_National_Inquiry_on_Bushfire_Mitigation_and_Management">far from sustainable</a>, either financially, ecologically or socially.</p>
<p>Australia has just experienced a period of high rainfall across the continent due to a La Niña event <a href="https://climateextremes.org.au/large-scale-climate-drivers-in-australia-2022/#:%7E:text=The%20combined%20influence%20of%20a,in%20123%20years%20of%20records.">combined with</a> two other climate drivers: a negative Indian Ocean Dipole and a positive Southern Annular Mode. It means the soil is moist and plants are flourishing.</p>
<p>Now, we’re set to enter into a drying period driven by an El Niño. The abundant plant growth leading into a dry period is likely to result in widespread bushfires across Australia. </p>
<p>Initially, this is <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/bushfire-new-south-wales-1974/">likely to occur</a> in semi-arid inland areas where grasses have flourished in the wet period, but will dry out quickly. If the drying cycle persists for two or three years, then fires might become more prevalent in forests and woodlands in temperate Australia. </p>
<p>But an El Niño year doesn’t necessarily mean a bad bushfire season is certain. </p>
<p>In Australia, El Niño events are associated with hotter and drier conditions, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263018552_Multi-decadal_variability_of_forest_fire_risk_-_Eastern_Australia">leading to more days</a> of high fire danger. But large and severe forest fires also need a prolonged drought to dry out fuels, especially in sheltered gullies and slopes. Soils and woody vegetation are currently moist following the La Niña period.</p>
<p>So El Niño and its opposite phase, La Niña, are on their own are a relatively <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/forecasting-fire-activity-in-victoria-australia-using-antecedent-">poor predictor</a> of the number and size of bushfires.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-burn-legacy-why-the-science-on-hazard-reduction-is-contested-132083">The burn legacy: why the science on hazard reduction is contested</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fight smarter, and be prepared</h2>
<p>Climate change will continue to test our fire management systems. And the return of an El Niño has fire crews <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/10/australia-firefighters-fire-crews-prepare-for-return-of-el-nino-bushfire-season-smoke-hazard-reduction-burns">on alert</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to fire management, Australia must be much smarter than it has been for the past 200 years. This means changing the focus to holistic fire management. Throwing huge amounts of money and resources at controlling bushfires – such as <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7034300/govt-vows-to-get-more-firefighting-aircraft/">purchasing more</a> and larger <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/new-weapon-to-fight-aussie-bushfires-kicks-off-service-in-wa/news-story/fa66e567e336164723cae8b98bb3ba8d">firefighting aircraft</a> – is is not sustainable or sensible.</p>
<p>Fire is as fundamental to our environment as wind and rain. And the amount of energy released from a large bushfire will never be matched by any level of resources humans can muster. </p>
<p>The evidence bears this out. Take, for example, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF9970221">analysis</a> of fire dynamics in two areas north and south of the US-Mexico border. Between 1920 and 1972, authorities on the US side had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on firefighting aircraft and other resources trying to suppress wildfires. This resulted in fewer wildfires than in the Mexico region. But the fires that occurred were larger and more severe.</p>
<p>Similar patterns have occurred in Australia. For example, a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284776990_Evidence_of_altered_fire_regimes_in_the_Western_Desert_regime_of_Australia">study</a> of burn patterns in the Western Desert region showed that after the exodus of Traditional Owners, the number of fires reduced substantially, but the fires became far bigger.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/watching-our-politicians-fumble-through-the-bushfire-crisis-im-overwhelmed-by-deja-vu-129338">Watching our politicians fumble through the bushfire crisis, I'm overwhelmed by déjà vu</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two worried women approach vehicle with smoky sky in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453488/original/file-20220322-17-12ntlm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fire can disrupt people and communities, but it is fundamental to our environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sean Davey/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Change must happen</h2>
<p>Damaging bushfires will return to Australia in the near future. The expected return of another El Niño should heighten efforts to create a more considered and sustainable fire management regime – particularly in southern Australia. </p>
<p>Experts, including me, have <a href="https://www.forestry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Final-KPI-Document-v2.pdf">devised</a> <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/media/4935/nationalbushfiremanagementpolicy_2014.pdf">plans</a> to guide the shift. They include:</p>
<ul>
<li>effectively managing the land with fire, including promoting Indigenous Australians’ use of fire</li>
<li>engaging communities in bushfire mitigation and management</li>
<li>better coordination across land, fire and emergency management agencies</li>
<li>ensuring fire management is based on “best practice” approaches.</li>
</ul>
<p>Australia, with its wealth of scientific knowledge and long history of Indigenous land management, should be well placed to manage fire sustainably – even with the pressures of climate change. Changing our approach will not be quick or simple, but it must be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Tolhurst is affiliated with the International Association of Wildland Fire. He is also on the forest fire management committee of Forestry Australia. </span></em></p>
The El Niño is a reminder that bushfires are part of Australian life. But whether or not this fire season is a bad one, Australia must find a better way to manage bushfires.
Kevin Tolhurst AM, Hon. Assoc. Prof., Fire Ecology and Management, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205113
2023-05-21T20:00:24Z
2023-05-21T20:00:24Z
‘Painting with fire’: how northern Australia developed one of the world’s best bushfire management programs
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526716/original/file-20230517-28-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1824%2C1643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Satellite imagery shows how burnt areas in central Arnhem Land are lines carefully 'painted' across the landscape.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browser/">Sentinel Hub EO Browser</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Right now, hundreds of bushfires are burning across northern Australia. But this is not a wildfire catastrophe – in fact, these burns are making things safer in one of the most fire-prone landscapes in the world.</p>
<p>From April to June each year, fire managers – such as Traditional Owners, park rangers and pastoralists – aim to create small, “cool” fires with care and precision to reduce fuel loads before conditions get severe later in the dry season. This work, “painting” landscapes with fire, is constantly informed by satellite data.</p>
<p>The combination of space technology with Indigenous knowledge and the know-how of pastoralists and park rangers has been everyday practice across northern Australia for the past 20 years. Not only does this work produce some of the best fire management outcomes in the world, it also demonstrates how cutting-edge technology can inform local and traditional knowledge for environmental management.</p>
<h2>The satellite view</h2>
<p>In the early 2000s, researchers and land managers brought together by the <a href="https://www.eoas.info/biogs/A001949b.htm">Cooperative Research Centre for the Sustainable Development of Tropical Savannahs</a> realised satellite imagery could be of great help for fire management across Australia’s vast tropical savannas. </p>
<p>These landscapes have always been prone to fire. After First Nations people moved away (or were forced) from these areas over the course of the 20th century, savanna fires <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/120251">became more frequent and intense</a>.</p>
<p>Satellite imagery had long been used to understand the extent and severity of fires and other landscape-altering events. But researchers realised it could also be used to manage those fires – if up-to-date imagery could be provided to the public on a daily basis. </p>
<p>The result was regularly updated maps of recently burnt areas distributed via a website launched in 2003, hosted by Charles Darwin University – <a href="https://firenorth.org.au/">North Australian Fire Information</a> (NAFI).</p>
<p>Twenty years on, NAFI’s maps of active fires and burnt areas underpin fire management across northern Australia. The maps are used for planning, response, implementation, and reporting. </p>
<h2>Carbon credits and international attention</h2>
<p>NAFI’s fire information also informs the federal government’s calculations for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2012-11-02/indigenous-fire-project-to-earn-carbon-credits/6123622">carbon credits related to reduced savanna burning</a>, which many people across Australia’s north are using to generate income. Some of this income is then put back into work to reduce the extent and severity of fires. </p>
<p>NAFI fire data also inform the national <a href="https://afdrs.com.au/">Australian Fire Danger Rating System</a> so it can be more effectively applied by bushfire agencies in remote areas.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-best-fire-management-system-is-in-northern-australia-and-its-led-by-indigenous-land-managers-133071">The world's best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it's led by Indigenous land managers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The same data have provided evidence showing north Australia has had <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-best-fire-management-system-is-in-northern-australia-and-its-led-by-indigenous-land-managers-133071">one of the most significant declines in fire</a> across any large landscape globally. </p>
<p>The successes of the NAFI service are drawing <a href="https://theconversation.com/fighting-fire-with-fire-botswana-adopts-indigenous-australians-ancient-burning-tradition-135363">international interest</a> as a model for fire information in other fire-susceptible regions around the world.</p>
<h2>Painting with fire</h2>
<p>Most Australians have a poor understanding of the history of fire on this continent. Fire has been a key human–ecological force that shaped landscapes over tens of thousands of years. </p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-professional-fire-watchers-and-were-astounded-by-the-scale-of-fires-in-remote-australia-right-now-172773">proactive use of fire for landscape management</a> has been revived in northern Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-professional-fire-watchers-and-were-astounded-by-the-scale-of-fires-in-remote-australia-right-now-172773">We are professional fire watchers, and we're astounded by the scale of fires in remote Australia right now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The scale of the work undertaken by Northern fire managers, particularly at this time of year when fuel load reduction burns are underway, is easy to see on NAFI. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526703/original/file-20230517-21-qpi2sc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A snapshot from NAFI from 15 May 2023. Each coloured dot represents an active fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://firenorth.org.au">NAFI</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Landscape-scale fire management, as applied in Northern Australia, is a sophisticated endeavour where science, technology and engineering support local knowledge. </p>
<h2>Beyond science and technology</h2>
<p>In a world rapidly being <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-04/east-kimberley-fire-forum-climate-change-impacts/101609248">transformed by climate change</a>, the skills required to make our societies sustainable and resilient involve more than just science and technology. Good environmental management will also require diverse, locally based skills and capacity to act.</p>
<p>Good fire management, as a case in point, requires an ability to blend skills and ways of thinking across multiple knowledge systems as well as a huge amount of hard work on the land.</p>
<p>Enabling easy, appropriately curated <a href="https://savannafiremapping.com/">access</a> to satellite-derived land information – and training to understand it – is critical. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526707/original/file-20230517-28-1bru81.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tiwi Rangers at a training session on using satellite data and digital mapping for fire management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rohan Fisher</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>NAFI also develops and delivers training for land managers. Through workshops delivered across regional Australia, from remote Indigenous communities in the Kimberley and the top end to pastoralists in northern Queensland and central Australia, we are building high-tech capacity among those with the vital on-ground knowledge.</p>
<p>The journey of NAFI and fire management in northern Australia over the past 20 years illustrates how innovation is not just about technology, no matter how advanced. Innovation produces results when it is combined with other knowledge and put into the hands of the right people in the right way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rohan Fisher works for Charles Darwin University and has received federal funding to support the NAFI service. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Jacklyn works for Charles Darwin University and has received federal funding to support the NAFI service.</span></em></p>
Satellite data and traditional know-how combined have drastically reduced fires across northern Australia over the past 20 years.
Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University
Peter Jacklyn, NAFI Service Manager and Knowledge and Adoption Coordinator, Charles Darwin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204679
2023-05-03T03:40:33Z
2023-05-03T03:40:33Z
In a bad fire year, Australia records over 450,000 hotspots. These maps show where the risks have increased over 20 years
<p>The bushfire outlook for many parts of Australia has changed drastically over the past decade. Environmental conditions have transformed, producing <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-black-summer-of-fire-was-not-normal-and-we-can-prove-it-172506">larger and more destructive bushfires</a>. </p>
<p>The frequency of bushfires that alter the atmospheric conditions around them has also increased. Nowhere was this more evident than during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/200-experts-dissected-the-black-summer-bushfires-in-unprecedented-detail-here-are-6-lessons-to-heed-198989">Black Summer bushfires</a> of 2019-2020. </p>
<p>As we continue to experience the effects of climate change, these environmental changes and destructive fire events will only become more prevalent.</p>
<p>Thanks to satellite imaging data collected over the past 20 years, we can map and quantify the region-by-region impact of climate change and how this has affected the prevalence of fire in different parts of Australia. With more accurate bushfire modelling, we can assist fire services and land managers to determine where they need to refocus their efforts as we adjust to the long haul of adaptation to climate change. </p>
<p>To this end, the maps in this article show where fires occurred in two consecutive decades, and show the changes between them. They also show regions where those changes exceed a threshold, indicating a significant increase in fire activity. This enables better-targeted fire risk management.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/200-experts-dissected-the-black-summer-bushfires-in-unprecedented-detail-here-are-6-lessons-to-heed-198989">200 experts dissected the Black Summer bushfires in unprecedented detail. Here are 6 lessons to heed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Two decades of satellite fire monitoring</h2>
<p>More than 20 years ago NASA launched two satellites, (<a href="https://terra.nasa.gov/">Terra</a> in 1999 and on <a href="https://aqua.nasa.gov/">Aqua</a> in 2002), to monitor the Earth’s surface with specialised sensors. One sensor, MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), was able to see both smoke plumes and the infrared signature of fires. An algorithm was developed to classify image pixels containing fire, producing a set of “<a href="https://hotspots.dea.ga.gov.au/">hotspots</a>”. </p>
<p>Both satellites have lasted well beyond their planned mission durations. This is significant for fire managers, who now have two decades of continuous hotspot data.</p>
<h2>Mapping Australia’s fire hotspots</h2>
<p>For many years I have been analysing MODIS data from the perspective of <a href="https://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim2015/A4/mcrae.pdf">seasonality</a>. I have been looking at when fires occurred and whether that reflected expectations. The aim is to validate <a href="https://www.afac.com.au/auxiliary/publications/newsletter/article/seasonal-bushfire-outlook-autumn-2023">seasonal bushfire outlooks</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing peak seasons for fire activity around Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523732/original/file-20230502-1462-jmw3na.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peak fire activity seasons for zones around Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author analysis of NASA data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The past 20 years of annual seasonality reviews are now available <a href="http://www.highfirerisk.com.au/hotspots/">online</a>. Each year the previous 12 months’ data were compared against those from a set time range or control period. This was a decade-long period covering a mix of El Niño and La Niña years, indicating “average” conditions. </p>
<p>Recently, we passed the end of the second decade of MODIS data. This opened the prospect of comparing two decades (starting in July 2002 and in July 2012) and looking for differences.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing ratio of hotspots in 2019-20 to the decade average for zones around Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523735/original/file-20230502-14-lf4u5l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ratio of hotspots in 2019-20 to the first decade average for zones around Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author analysis of NASA data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a year with a lot of fire, Australia creates more than 450,000 hotspots. This makes the 20 years of MODIS data an irreplaceable tool for seamless, quantitative assessments of fire dynamics across Australia. The datasets are freely available <a href="https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/">online</a> and have been used to create useful products to assist fire managers. </p>
<p>Several caveats apply to hotspot datasets. Low-intensity fires (especially well-planned, hazard-reduction burns), fires under heavy cloud cover, and fire runs that burn out quickly may not produce a hotspot. The latter was the case for many of the worst fire events during the Black Summer fires. </p>
<p>There is also no way to separate wildfire from planned fire. This has to be a goal, as both contribute to the fire regime but the balance varies a lot between regions. Future burn planning may become a major challenge as big wildfire events like Black Summer put much of the landscape into a single fire age. This makes burning difficult until the forest recovers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fire-management-in-australia-has-reached-a-crossroads-and-business-as-usual-wont-cut-it-174696">Fire management in Australia has reached a crossroads and 'business as usual' won’t cut it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To determine how fire activity had changed between the first and second decades of data, hotspots were aggregated into grid-cells. Each spanned half a degree of both latitude and longitude.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing hotspot counts for the first and second decade of the past 20 years" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523737/original/file-20230502-16-qw05ft.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hotspot count maps for decade one (left) and decade two (right). Larger symbols indicate higher counts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author analysis of NASA data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By comparing the number and ratio of hotspots in the grid-cell count from decade one to that from decade two, we could determine where fire frequency was changing the most.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of hotspot count ratios based on first and second decade of satellite data" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523961/original/file-20230503-26-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hotspot count ratios from decade one to decade two, showing where fire activity has increased and decreased.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author analysis of NASA data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some areas, such as eastern New South Wales, have a very high ratio of change between the first and second decade, reflecting Black Summer. Some areas, such as Arnhem Land, have a very high hotspot count and a slight increase from the first decade to the second, which may produce a significant challenge in future. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-professional-fire-watchers-and-were-astounded-by-the-scale-of-fires-in-remote-australia-right-now-172773">We are professional fire watchers, and we're astounded by the scale of fires in remote Australia right now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To encompass the effects of both high counts and high ratios, a threshold was set and any region that exceeded this was an area that needed the most attention.</p>
<p>This produced a set of geographic regions with consistent patterns.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map combining decade two hotspot count and inter-decadal ratios (left) is used to create map showing regions of change (right)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523746/original/file-20230502-18-b9wqpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Combinations of decade two hotspot counts and inter-decadal ratios (left) used to create regions of change, coloured separately (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author analysis of NASA data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The impacts detailed in the interactive map below (click on the dots for details) must be considered as longer-term management issues for the highlighted regions. </p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-849" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/849/90b3c6b62a414bf2881cb7663bd80f3bf25c813c/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>Year-to-year fire patterns have been showing extreme swings in recent years, which may swamp the longer-term trends. However, these trends have picked up many of the key operational challenges, including <a href="http://www.highfirerisk.com.au/pyrocb/register.htm">fire thunderstorms</a>, of recent years. </p>
<p>These challenges are evident in forests in the south-east and south-west of Australia, south-east Queensland, central Tasmania and the tropics.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/firestorms-and-flaming-tornadoes-how-bushfires-create-their-own-ferocious-weather-systems-126832">Firestorms and flaming tornadoes: how bushfires create their own ferocious weather systems</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Hotspot mapping in the future</h2>
<p>Challenges as we move forward include developing ways to merge the MODIS data with data from the next generation of satellites, and to separate data for wildfire and prescribed burning.</p>
<p>This and other work will allow us to better anticipate what the next decade will bring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick McRae was a senior emergency manager in the ACT for over three decades, and has now retired. He is now a Visiting Fellow at UNSW Canberra.</span></em></p>
Two decades of satellite data have allowed us to map fires across the country and identify areas facing high fire risks. Fire activity has increased in several major regions over the past decade.
Rick McRae, Adjunct Professor, School of Science at UNSW Canberra, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196363
2022-12-14T02:28:31Z
2022-12-14T02:28:31Z
Bad fire science can kill our threatened species. It’s time to cooperate with nature
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500904/original/file-20221214-22-136aqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C20%2C3448%2C2281&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For four years, naturalist <a href="https://www.perthnow.com.au/community-news/mandurah-coastal-times/eco-warrior-named-mandurah-citizen-of-the-year-c-837818">Allison Dixon</a> regularly walked from dusk until dawn at the Warrungup Spring bush reserve south of Perth, carefully documenting every western ringtail possum she saw.</p>
<p>The possum – or <em>ngwayir</em> in the language of Traditional Owners – is <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/species/20-mammals-by-2020/western-ringtail-possum">critically endangered</a>. The species is found only in a small area of southwest Australia, including the population of 22 individuals Dixon was monitoring. </p>
<p>She knew each possum by name. Their voices and physical features were as familiar to her as human faces.</p>
<p>In 2018, a prescribed burn by local authorities was conducted in the Warrungup Spring reserve. Despite burning slowly as planned, it killed 17 of the 22 possums Dixon was monitoring.</p>
<p>I document this incident in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13264">new paper</a> and explore how a carefully controlled fuel reduction burn could cause such catastrophic loss. We must move on from bad fire science to prevent similar tragedies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="woman in hat leans against tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500890/original/file-20221214-26-xv1pg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Allison Dixon carefully monitored a population of western ringtail possums.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facebook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The fire-intensity equation</h2>
<p>Prescribed burning occurs when authorities intentionally set fire to a particular area of the landscape under defined conditions. The burns are often used to reduce so-called “fuel loads” – fine biomass such as twigs, leaf litter and bark.</p>
<p>As the idea goes, the greater the weight of the fuel load, the more flammable the forest. This theory can be traced back to American fire researcher George Marsden Byram.</p>
<p>In 1959, Byram published an <a href="https://www.frames.gov/documents/behaveplus/publications/Byram_1959_CombustionOfForestFuels.pdf">equation</a> beautiful in its simplicity: a fire’s heat output (or intensity) was equal to the amount of energy stored in the fuel, multiplied by the amount of fuel, and multiplied again by the speed the fire spreads and consumes it. </p>
<p>This theory would <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112712000722">shape</a> a central tenet of Australian fire management: that prescribed burns are necessary to reduce fuel loads, to make subsequent bushfires less intense. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="here" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500898/original/file-20221214-17-afti5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prescribed burns are central to Australian fire management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Greg Barnette/The Record Searchlight</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The influence of Byram’s fire-intensity theory can be seen in an official fire management <a href="https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/static/FullTextFiles/024245.pdf">guide</a> used to inform the burning of ngwayir habitat. The document suggests the animals can survive low-intensity fire – and on the day of the burn that killed 17 ngwayir, weather conditions were conducive to such a fire.</p>
<p>But after years of work in fire management, I’ve come to see Byram’s theory – and the management practices flowing from it – as simplistic. In 2016, my colleagues and I published a new way of <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-modelling-on-bushfires-shows-how-they-really-burn-through-an-area-63943">modelling</a> fire behaviour. In my latest paper, I applied this model to the Warrungup Spring fire. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-modelling-on-bushfires-shows-how-they-really-burn-through-an-area-63943">New modelling on bushfires shows how they really burn through an area</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The prescribed burn at Warrungup Spring involved igniting patches of balga grasstrees and their surrounds. I investigated what happened to the air around a hollow in a tree where ngwayir were known to live. A balga grasstree burned during the fire was located under the hollow.</p>
<p>According to Byram’s theory, the fire would have been classed as low-intensity because it did not spread horizontally. But this thinking does not account for the vertical spread of heat and flames.</p>
<p>As depicted in the image below, the supposedly low-intensity fire would have heated the air above it to more than 500°C. This would burn the respiratory tracts of possums inside the hollow in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.13264">just a few minutes</a>.</p>
<p>Byram’s fire-intensity equation might be valuable as a theoretical construct. But using it to inform real-world fire management can be catastrophic.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500357/original/file-20221212-103075-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ngwayir and its hollow located above a balga grasstree set on fire in the prescribed burn. The graph shows the heat penetration into the hollow in increments through the wood, with the hollow temperature in red and the lethal temperature marked by the horizontal line.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">A. Dixon; P. Zylstra</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As my latest paper describes, Allison Dixon searched for the western ringtail possums the evening after the fire, and each subsequent evening for two weeks. </p>
<p>In some cases, Dixon found the bodies. In others, the presence of flies in high nest hollows indicated the <em>ngwayir</em> inside had perished.</p>
<p>Dixon visited surrounding properties and structures in case the possums had fled the fire ground, but no survivors were identified. She also continued weekly monitoring of their habitat. In the end, 17 of the 22 critically endangered possums were presumed dead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="burnt possum lies in ash" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500909/original/file-20221214-27-9vvxgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A burnt western ringtail possum recorded by Allison Dixon after the prescribed burn in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: Allison Dixon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>But the problem runs even deeper</h2>
<p>Most fuel load lies in the litter layer on the ground. But we’ve known for decades that burning it away germinates dense understorey regrowth. In fact, WA government records <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5c10">show</a> bushfires are most likely where prescribed burns have occurred, where that regrowth is most dense.</p>
<p>In November this year, a prescribed burn was conducted in the Walpole Wilderness, in dense regrowth stimulated by a previous prescribed burn. </p>
<p>The fire was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-12/prescribed-burn-review-urged-after-walpole-fire/101759498">reportedly meant</a> to protect quokka habitat. But it escaped containment lines and burnt 25,000 hectares – 10,000 more than originally planned, and at a higher-than-intended severity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="smoke fills the sky above hills" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500382/original/file-20221212-90146-b9fnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A prescribed burn that escaped in the Walpole Wilderness this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112709007294">peer-reviewed study</a> appears to show less fire in areas where prescribed burning has been undertaken. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2022.2119891">research</a> by my colleagues and I has challenged this study. </p>
<p>The authors of the study in question compared the amount of wildfire in each six-year period with the amount of prescribed fire in the same period. But this method meant that for some of that period, reduced fire frequency was attributed to prescribed burns that had not yet occurred.</p>
<h2>Cooperating with nature</h2>
<p>Australia has the <a href="https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/overview/introduction">world’s worst record</a> for mammal extinction – and we know fire is one of the main culprits. Yet prescribed burning relies on outdated or even disproved theories and assumptions about fire.</p>
<p>Bad fire science is killing our threatened species, but <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5c10">alternatives</a> are available.
These approaches reinforce, rather than disrupt, natural ecological controls on forest fire. They include traditional Indigenous fire knowledge, and modern techniques to minimise the extent of dense regrowth in the landscape.</p>
<p>By cooperating with nature to minimise fire risk, we can protect species that have persisted through aeons.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coming-of-age-research-shows-old-forests-are-3-times-less-flammable-than-those-just-burned-179571">Coming of age: research shows old forests are 3 times less flammable than those just burned</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Zylstra received funding for this study from the NSW Environmental Trust, Curtin University and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.</span></em></p>
A new paper explores how a carefully controlled fuel reduction burn killed 17 critically endangered western ringtail possums.
Philip Zylstra, Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University, Research Associate at University of New South Wales, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176563
2022-02-15T18:50:44Z
2022-02-15T18:50:44Z
World-first research confirms Australia’s forests became catastrophic fire risk after British invasion
<p>Australia’s forests now carry far more flammable fuel than before British invasion, our research shows, revealing the catastrophic risk created by non-Indigenous bushfire management approaches.</p>
<p>Contemporary approaches to forest management in Australia are based on suppression – extinguishing bushfires once they’ve started, or seeking to prevent them through hazard-reduction burning.</p>
<p>This differs from the approach of Indigenous Australians who’ve developed sophisticated relationships with fire over tens of thousands of years. They minimise bushfire risk through frequent low-intensity burning – in contrast to the current scenario of <a href="https://thamesandhudson.com.au/product/country-future-fire-future-farming/">random</a>, high-intensity fires.</p>
<p>Our research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2395">released today</a>, provides what we believe is the first quantitative evidence that forests and woodlands across southeast Australia contained fewer shrubs and more grass before colonisation. This suggests Indigenous fire management holds the key to a safer, more sustainable future on our flammable continent.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="small fire in pastoral landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470400/original/file-20220622-39981-sr1hfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous Australians have developed sophisticated relationships with fire over tens of thousands of years. Pictured: Fire Lines, 2019. Archival waxed inkjet Print 100cm x 125cm. © Alan McFetridge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.alan-mcfetridge.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not just a climate story</h2>
<p>Globally, climate change is causing catastrophic fire weather <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000657">more often</a>. In Australia, long-term drought and high temperatures were blamed for the Black Summer bushfires in the summer of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14987">2019-20</a>. This event burned 18 million hectares, an area almost twice the size of England. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02306-4">unusually high</a> fire extent in forests prompted several important questions. Could these massive fires be explained by climate change alone? Or was the way we manage forests also affecting fire behaviour? </p>
<p>Recent catastrophic fires in Australia and North America prompted renewed scrutiny of how the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/3/61">disruption</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4470">exclusion</a> of First Nations’ burning practices has affected forest fuel loads. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-rainforest-was-once-a-grassland-savanna-maintained-by-aboriginal-people-until-colonisation-138289">This rainforest was once a grassland savanna maintained by Aboriginal people – until colonisation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Fuel load refers to the amount of flammable organic matter in vegetation such as leaves, twigs, branches and trunks. Large fuel loads in the shrubby layers of vegetation enable flames to more easily reach tree canopies, causing intense and dangerous “crown” fires.</p>
<p>Long before British invasion of southeast Australia in 1788, Indigenous people managed Australia’s flammable vegetation with “cultural burning” practices. These involved frequent, low-intensity fires which led to a <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/pre-colonial-australia-natural-wilderness-or-gentleman-s-park">fine-grained vegetation mosaic comprising grassy areas and scattered trees</a>.</p>
<p>Landscapes managed in this way were <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01233.x">less prone</a> to destructive fires. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="flames in dry scrub" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445381/original/file-20220209-19-1afvt12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cultural burning in Djabugay Country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But under colonial rule, Aboriginal people were dispossessed of their lands and often prevented from carrying out many important practices.</p>
<p>The colonisers suppressed Indigenous cultural burning – sometimes to <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/SCEP/Fire_Season_Prepardeness/Submissions/Submission_45_-_The_Gippsland_Apiarists_Association-Attachment_1.pdf">protect fences</a> – causing the land to become <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/bt97052">overgrown with shrubs</a>. </p>
<p>Colonial vegetation management involved clear-cutting and intense intentional burning to create land on the plains for agriculture. Forests in rugged and less desirable terrain were left unmanaged or exploited through <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-1195-5">logging</a>.</p>
<p>A fire-fighting mentality came to dominate fire management in Australia, in which fires are seen as a threat to be prevented, or stopped once they start. This thinking underlies mainstream fire and land management <a href="https://thamesandhudson.com.au/product/country-future-fire-future-farming/">to this day</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/strength-from-perpetual-grief-how-aboriginal-people-experience-the-bushfire-crisis-129448">Strength from perpetual grief: how Aboriginal people experience the bushfire crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="fire officials watch smoke and flames in distance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446032/original/file-20220211-19-yisnhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Current mainstream fire management focuses on suppression techniques.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sean Davey/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Uncovering past landscapes</h2>
<p>Our research set out to examine vegetation change at 52 sites across much of Australia’s southeast before and after colonisation in 1788. A large proportion of these are in forested areas of Victoria and New South Wales.</p>
<p>Scientists can develop a picture of past vegetation by extracting tiny fossilised grains of pollen from ancient sediment in wetlands and lake beds. Different plants produce pollen grains with different shapes, so by analysing them we can reconstruct past vegetation landscapes. </p>
<p>We also calibrated the amount of pollen to vegetation cover, to determine the past proportions of trees, shrubs, and grasses and herbs. </p>
<p>We did this using new modelling techniques that allow the conversion of pollen grain counts to plant cover across the landscape. These models have been widely applied in <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-483-2010">Europe</a>, but our work represents a first in Australia. </p>
<p>All this meant we could then quantify vegetation changes before and after British invasion. We found forests in the southeast are now much denser, and more flammable, than before 1788.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people on floatation device near lake" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445092/original/file-20220208-25-14rvfzo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers preparing a platform for extracting lake sediment cores. Photo by Haidee Cadd.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found grass and herb vegetation dominated the pre-colonial period, accounting for about half the vegetation across all sites. Trees and shrubs covered about 15% and 34% of the landscape, respectively.</p>
<p>After British invasion, shrubbiness in forests and woodlands in southeast Australia increased by up to 48% (with an average increase of 12%). Shrubs replaced grassy areas, while tree cover has remained stable overall.</p>
<p>Considering the vast area covered by our analysis, the shrub increase represents a massive accumulation of fuel loads.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Diagram showing how vegetation changed before and after colonial settlement" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445080/original/file-20220208-23-195qxf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The transition from pre- to post-colonial fuel structure in southeastern Australian forests, according to results presented in our recent publication in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (Mariani et al., 2022).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More than 200 years of neglect</h2>
<p>In 1770, natural history artist Sydney Parkinson <a href="https://arcade.stanford.edu/occasion/enduring-contact-australian-perspectives-environmental-and-social-change">described</a> the landscape along Australia’s east coast as “free from underwood […] like a gentleman’s park”.</p>
<p>In 2011, historian Bill Gammage published a controversial book titled The Biggest Estate on Earth. It contained several paintings of early colonial Australia in which the landscapes resembled a savanna, with large gaps between trees and a grassy understorey. </p>
<p>Nowadays, many such areas are dense forest. Our research is the first region-wide analysis that gives scientific credence to these historical accounts of a landscape very different to what we see today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of a cultural landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445085/original/file-20220208-2903-fb7fh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Painting by Eugen von Guerard, Crater of Mt Eccles (Budj Bim National Park), Victoria (1858). Sourced from Gammage, 2011, The Biggest Estate on Earth.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The disposession of Indigenous Australians by British invaders has had a deep <a href="https://naturaldisaster.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/submission/NND.001.00969.pdf">social and ecological impact</a>. This includes neglect of the bush, the direct result of denying Aboriginal Australians the right to exercise their duty of care over Country, using fire.</p>
<p>Australia’s forests need fire, deployed by capable Indigenous hands. Without it, increased fuel loads, coupled with climate change, will create conditions for bushfires bigger and more ferocious than we’ve ever seen before.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-you-have-unfinished-business-its-time-to-let-our-fire-people-care-for-this-land-135196">Australia, you have unfinished business. It's time to let our 'fire people' care for this land</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michela Mariani receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is affiliated with the Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) at the Australian National University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael-Shawn Fletcher is a Wiradjuri scholar and receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Connor receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Indigenous fire management holds the key to a safer, more sustainable future on our flammable continent.
Michela Mariani, Assistant Professor in Physical Geography, University of Nottingham
Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Associate Professor in Biogeography, The University of Melbourne
Simon Connor, Fellow in Natural History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/174696
2022-01-13T19:10:57Z
2022-01-13T19:10:57Z
Fire management in Australia has reached a crossroads and ‘business as usual’ won’t cut it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440580/original/file-20220113-15-1oybhul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C5%2C3428%2C2381&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The current wet conditions delivered by <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/">La Niña</a> may have caused widespread flooding, but they’ve also provided a reprieve from the threat of bushfires in southeastern Australia. This is an ideal time to consider how we prepare for the next bushfire season.</p>
<p>Dry conditions will eventually return, as will fire. So, two years on from the catastrophic Black Summer fires, is Australia better equipped for a future of extreme fire seasons?</p>
<p>In our recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4040097">synthesis</a> on the Black Summer fires, we argue climate change is exceeding the capacity of our ecological and social systems to adapt. The paper is based on a series of <a href="https://www.bushfirehub.org/publications/?work_package_filter=all-work-packages&category_filter=nsw_bushfire_inquiry_2020">reports</a> we, and other experts from the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, were commissioned to produce for the NSW government’s bushfire inquiry.</p>
<p>Fire management in Australia has reached a crossroads, and “business as usual” won’t cut it. In this era of mega-fires, diverse strategies are urgently needed so we can safely live with fire.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="firefighter holds head while lying down" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440578/original/file-20220113-13-xa4qd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the age of mega fires, new strategies are needed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Mariuz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Does prescribed burning work?</h2>
<p>Various government inquiries following the Black Summer fires of 2019-20 produced wide-ranging recommendations for how to prepare and respond to bushfires. Similar inquiries have been held since 1939 after previous bushfires. </p>
<p>Typically, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00049158.2005.10674950">these inquiries</a> led to major changes to policy and funding. But almost universally, this was followed by a gradual complacency and failure to put policies into practice.</p>
<p>If any fire season can provide the catalyst for sustained changes to fire management, it is Black Summer. So, what have we learnt from that disaster and are we now better prepared? </p>
<p>To answer the first question, we turn to our <a href="https://www.bushfirehub.org/nsw-bushfire-inquiry-2020/">analyses</a> for the <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/nsw-bushfire-inquiry#toc-published-submissions">NSW Bushfire Inquiry</a>.</p>
<p>Following the Black Summer fires, debate emerged about whether hazard reduction burning by fire authorities ahead of the fire season had been sufficient, or whether excessive “fuel loads” – such as dead leaves, bark and shrubs – had been allowed to accumulate.</p>
<p>We found no evidence the fires were driven by above-average fuel loads stemming from a lack of planned burning. In fact, hazard reduction burns conducted in the years leading up to the Black Summer fires effectively reduced the probability of high severity fire, and reduced the number of houses destroyed by fire. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drought-and-climate-change-were-the-kindling-and-now-the-east-coast-is-ablaze-126750">Drought and climate change were the kindling, and now the east coast is ablaze</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="remains of homes destroyed by fire" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440583/original/file-20220113-19-8i5dnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prescribed burning reduced the numbers of homes affected by fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Gourley/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, we found the fires were primarily driven by record-breaking fuel dryness and extreme weather conditions. These conditions were due to natural climate variability, but made worse by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00065-8">climate change</a>. Most fires were sparked by lightning, and very few were thought to be the result of arson.</p>
<p>These extreme weather conditions meant the effectiveness of prescribed burns was reduced – particularly when an area had not burned for more than five years.</p>
<p>All this means that hazard reduction burning in NSW is generally effective, however in the face of worsening climate change new policy responses are needed. </p>
<h2>Diverse and unexpected impacts</h2>
<p>As the Black Summer fires raged, loss of life and property most commonly occurred in regional areas while metropolitan areas were heavily affected by smoke. Smoke exposure from the disaster led to an estimated <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00610-5">429 deaths</a>. </p>
<p>Socially disadvantaged and Indigenous populations were disproportionately affected by the fires, including by loss of income, homes and infrastructure, as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/strength-from-perpetual-grief-how-aboriginal-people-experience-the-bushfire-crisis-129448">emotional trauma</a>. Our <a href="https://www.bushfirehub.org/resources/demographic-characteristics-nsw-inquiry-impacts-on-people-and-property-report/">analyses</a> found 38% of fire-affected areas were among the most disadvantaged, while just 10% were among the least disadvantaged. </p>
<p>We also found some areas with relatively large <a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-10-children-affected-by-bushfires-is-indigenous-weve-been-ignoring-them-for-too-long-135212">Indigenous populations</a> were fire-affected. For example, four fire-affected areas had Indigenous populations greater than 20% including the Grafton, Eurobodalla Hinterland, Armidale and Kempsey regions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two maps illustrating (a) the index of relative social disadvantage, and (b) the proportion of affected population that was Indigenous (2016 Census)" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440370/original/file-20220112-17-wxfm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demographic characteristics of fire-affected communities in NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4040097</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-10-children-affected-by-bushfires-is-indigenous-weve-been-ignoring-them-for-too-long-135212">1 in 10 children affected by bushfires is Indigenous. We've been ignoring them for too long</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Black Summer fires burnt an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0716-1">unprecedentedly large area</a> – half of all wet sclerophyll forests and over a third of rainforest vegetation types in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4040097">NSW</a>. </p>
<p>Importantly, for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13265">257 plant species</a>, the historical intervals between fires across their range were likely too short to allow effective regeneration. Similarly, many vegetation communities were left vulnerable to too-frequent fire, which may result in biodiversity decline, particularly as the climate changes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="green shoot sprouting from burnt trunk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440585/original/file-20220113-27-yqcxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not all plant species can regenerate after too-frequent fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking to the future</h2>
<p>So following Black Summer, how do we ensure Australia is better equipped for a future of extreme fire seasons? </p>
<p>As a first step, we must act on both the knowledge gained from government inquiries into the disaster, and the recommendations handed down. Importantly, long-term funding commitments are required to support bushfire management, research and innovation. </p>
<p>Governments have already increased investment in fire-suppression resources such as <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/new-weapon-to-fight-aussie-bushfires-kicks-off-service-in-wa/news-story/fa66e567e336164723cae8b98bb3ba8d">water-bombing aircraft</a>. There’s also been increased investment in fire management such as <a href="https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/news-and-media/ministerial-media-releases/further-$268.2-million-responding-to-nsw-bushfire-inquiry-recommendations">improving fire trails</a> and employing additional hazard reduction crews, as well as <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/porter/media-releases/world-class-natural-hazards-research-centre">new allocations</a> for research funding.</p>
<p>But alongside this, we also need investment in community-led solutions and involvement in bushfire planning and operations. This includes strong engagement between fire authorities and residents in developing strategies for hazard reduction burning, and providing greater support for people to manage fuels on private land. Support should also be available to people who decide to relocate away from high bushfire risk areas. </p>
<p>The Black Summer fires led to significant interest in a revival of Indigenous <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-26/cultural-burning-to-protect-from-catastrophic-bushfires/100241046">cultural burning</a> – a practice that brings multiple benefits to people and environment. However, non-Indigenous land managers should not treat cultural burning as simply another hazard reduction technique, but part of a broader practice of Aboriginal-led cultural land management.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="three figures in smoke-filled forest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440593/original/file-20220113-21-fo43aj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous burning is part of a broader practice of Aboriginal-led land management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josh Whittaker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This requires structural and procedural changes in non-Indigenous land management, as well as secure, adequate and ongoing funding opportunities. Greater engagement and partnership with Aboriginal communities at all levels of fire and land management is also needed.</p>
<p>Under climate change, living with fire will require a multitude of new solutions and approaches. If we want to be prepared for the next major fire season, we must keep planning and investing in fire management and research – even during wet years such as this one.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Ross Bradstock, Owen Price, David Bowman, Vanessa Cavanagh, David Keith, Matthias Boer, Hamish Clarke, Trent Penman, Josh Whittaker and many others contributed to the research upon which this article is based.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Nolan receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Rural Fire Service, ACT Parks and Conservation and the Hermon Slade Foundation. She is a member of the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, which is supported by funds from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Williamson receives funding from the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, funded by NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>While based at UOW Katharine Haynes received funding from the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, supported by the NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environment. Katharine is now the NSW Node Research Manager for Natural Hazards Research Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Ooi receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. He is a member of the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, which is supported by funds from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
</span></em></p>
In this era of mega-fires, diverse strategies are urgently needed so we can safely live with fire.
Rachael Helene Nolan, Senior research fellow, Western Sydney University
Grant Williamson, Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of Tasmania
Katharine Haynes, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
Mark Ooi, Senior Research Fellow, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169534
2021-11-11T06:25:58Z
2021-11-11T06:25:58Z
The ‘Ringo Starr’ of birds is now endangered – here’s how we can still save our drum-playing palm cockatoos
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431216/original/file-20211110-21-si57em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3057%2C2026&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Palm cockatoo breeding pair at the nesting hollow. Female on left, male on the right.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/149281781@N05/?">Christina N. Zdenek</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Environmental scientists see flora, fauna and phenomena the rest of us rarely do. In this series, we’ve invited them to share their unique <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/photos-from-the-field-92499">photos from the field</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Australia’s largest parrot, the palm cockatoo, is justifiably famous as the only non-human animal to craft tools for sound. They create drumsticks to make a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1602399">rhythmic beat</a>. Sadly, the “Ringo Starr” of the bird world is now threatened with extinction – just as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108865">many other parrots</a> are around the world. </p>
<p>This week, the Queensland government moved this species – also known as the goliath cockatoo – onto <a href="https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-search/details/?id=1175">the endangered list</a>, due to our research on palm cockatoo populations over more than 20 years. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108865">Our analysis</a> predicts a severe decline from 47% to as high as 95% over the next half-century. Given the current population is estimated at just <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7905/">3,000 birds</a>, it is likely to drop to as low as 150 birds. They could all but disappear from Australia in our lifetimes.</p>
<p>Is it too late? Not yet. There are concrete ways to protect these magnificent, elusive birds by conserving habitat and their all-important breeding hollow trees, by reintroducing <a href="https://www.watarrkafoundation.org.au/blog/aboriginal-fire-management-what-is-cool-burning">cool burns</a> (including <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1071/MU12109">unburnt areas</a>), and finding out more about these special parrots.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431451/original/file-20211111-5078-1du8di9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the crucial palm cockatoo hollows burning down in Cape York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So why are palm cockatoos in trouble?</h2>
<p>Palmies, as we call these charismatic birds, hail from an ancient lineage on the parrot evolutionary tree. In Australia they only live on the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland, where they face a perfect storm of threats and vulnerability. </p>
<p>They’re losing habitat due to poor fire management and ongoing land-clearing, but they also have <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1017/S0952836903004175">extremely low breeding rates</a>, with females laying a single egg every two years. </p>
<p>Of the offspring, only 23% of their chicks live until they fledge. On average, this means each breeding pair successfully raises just one chick every 10 years. And who knows if that fledgling will make it to sexual maturity at five or more years old?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bird-brained-and-brilliant-australias-avians-are-smarter-than-you-think-51475">Bird-brained and brilliant: Australia's avians are smarter than you think</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One challenge in studying these birds is the difficulty in identifying individual birds over time. To date there has been no successful capture of palmies to mark them via leg bands or GPS trackers. Without knowing who’s who, major problems with breeding success could be masked by an ageing population, given their life expectancy is up to 60 years. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Modelling-dispersal-in-a-large-parrot%3A-a-comparison-Keighley-Langmore/42601905f1d0a26f7b73bf1093660fc88d46563f">Our research</a> on palm cockatoo genetics and vocal dialects reveals their three major populations on the peninsula are poorly connected, meaning little movement of birds between groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scientist with palm cockatoo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431439/original/file-20211111-13-9n8yaw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researcher Christina Zdenek with a palm cockatoo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each group has developed “cultural” traits which have not spread between the populations. For example, the famous drumming display mainly occurs in the eastern population, where the birds also make distinctive calls including a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1VlezTRVnI">unique human-like “hello”</a>.</p>
<p>The downside is that if one population is in trouble, the others are unable to pick up the slack and provide breeding reinforcements.</p>
<h2>How do we save them?</h2>
<p>Palmies are in real trouble. Saving them from extinction will take a concerted effort.</p>
<p>We urgently need a better understanding of why they have such trouble breeding, to figure out if it’s similarly bad across all three populations, and to work out how palmies use the landscape.</p>
<p>At the same time, we have to get better at managing the landscape they need to survive. What does that look like? It means cool burns to prevent extreme bushfires burning down their ancient nesting trees – plus avoiding any further felling of these priceless trees. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431453/original/file-20211111-6783-14onijk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palm cockatoo splintering a stick to make his nesting platform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431457/original/file-20211111-27-d02j56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palm cockatoos can live up to 60 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These trees are a key part of the puzzle. Palmies are picky breeders. For these birds, not just any tree hollow will do. They require large, old hollow-bearing trees to breed in, which can be <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2443863">up to 300 years old</a>. </p>
<p>The hollowing process typically starts with a small burn at the base, giving termites access to the insides of the trunk. Eventually, these trees resemble vertical hollow pipes. The palmies then spend months splintering sticks and bringing them to the hollow to make a nesting platform up to a metre deep – the only parrot to do in the entire world. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these “piped” trees are especially vulnerable to big fires, which also <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1995.tb00557.x">lower termite populations</a> and reduce the chances of future hollows being formed. </p>
<h2>Protecting their habitat</h2>
<p>We’ve found using a brush cutter and rake to clear the grass and debris for three metres around nesting trees is enough to save them from fires. This is of course labour intensive. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Breeding hollow tree for palm cockatoos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431438/original/file-20211111-5078-y252rj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protecting palm cockatoo breeding hollows from fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A longer-term strategy is to manage fire better. The frequency and intensity of bushfires in tropical Australia has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1071/MU12109">changed for the worse</a> since Europeans started managing the landscape. A return to the traditional cool burns employed by indigenous people from the Uutaalnganu, Kanthanampu and Kuuku Ya’u language groups could largely resolve this problem.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-too-late-to-save-them-5-ways-to-improve-the-governments-plan-to-protect-threatened-wildlife-147669">It's not too late to save them: 5 ways to improve the government's plan to protect threatened wildlife</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Land clearing also reduces habitat. Though long saved by distance, Cape York is now seeing strip-mining, road building, and quarrying, which all contribute to habitat loss. We can reduce the damage done if skilled ecologists survey proposed clearance areas ahead of time. </p>
<p>Another vital step towards keeping this species alive is to broadly assess and protect as much as possible of the remaining palm cockatoo breeding habitat on Cape York.</p>
<p>We also need better ways of detecting their nest hollows. We’ve researched these birds for over two decades, and can confidently say that birds don’t come any harder to study than palmies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431455/original/file-20211111-19-1a2obsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just 23% of palmie chicks live until they fledge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431459/original/file-20211111-27-ogeduc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palmies go quiet during nesting, making them hard to find.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina N. Zdenek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hunting for their nests is time consuming and expensive because palmies can lay their egg any day in an eight month breeding season, with pairs often switching among several hollows on their territories. This spreads our survey teams thin. </p>
<p>We’ve also found that palmies <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09524622.2015.1070281">go quiet during nesting</a> and are super wary of humans, making finding their nesting hollows especially difficult.</p>
<p>Despite all the challenges in saving them, it is worthwhile. Even after watching them for 20 years, we have not tired of their company. They’re magnificent birds with unique behaviour and a surprising number of parallels with humans, such as drumming, blushing, tool-making, and their “Hello” call.</p>
<p>To bring them back from the edge, we must work quickly to figure out why and where their breeding survival rates are so low, improve how we use fire, and protect their habitat and the all-important old trees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina N. Zdenek receives funding from the Australian Research Council and has worked as a biological consultant for both a mining company and ecological consulting company on Cape York Peninsula.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Heinsohn receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
Australia’s largest parrot has just been listed as an endangered species. Here’s why they’re in trouble – but it’s not too late to save them.
Christina N. Zdenek, Lab Manager/Post-doc at the Venom Evolution Lab, The University of Queensland
Rob Heinsohn, Professor of Evolutionary and Conservation Biology, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135196
2020-05-27T20:09:13Z
2020-05-27T20:09:13Z
Australia, you have unfinished business. It’s time to let our ‘fire people’ care for this land
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337831/original/file-20200527-141320-mg5qfb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C87%2C3072%2C1545&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rangers from Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa, conducting cool season burning on Martu Country.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Jupp,The Nature Conservancy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since last summer’s bushfire crisis, there’s been a quantum shift in public awareness of Aboriginal fire management. It’s now more widely understood that Aboriginal people <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/26/10287">used landscape burning</a> to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ece3.1494">sustain biodiversity</a> and suppress large bushfires.</p>
<p>The Morrison government’s <a href="https://naturaldisaster.royalcommission.gov.au">bushfire royal commission</a>, which began hearings this week, recognises the potential of incorporating Aboriginal knowledge into mainstream fire management.</p>
<p>Its <a href="https://naturaldisaster.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/commonwealth-letters-patent-20-february-2020">terms of reference</a> seek to understand ways “the traditional land and fire management practices of Indigenous Australians could improve Australia’s resilience to natural disasters”. </p>
<p>Incorporating Aboriginal knowledge is essential to tackling future bushfire crises. But it risks perpetuating historical injustices, by appropriating Aboriginal knowledge without recognition or compensation. So while the bushfire threat demands urgent action, we must also take care.</p>
<p>Accommodating traditional fire knowledge is a long-overdue accompaniment to recent advances in land rights and native title. It is an essential part of the unfinished business of post-colonial Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337827/original/file-20200527-141316-icoing.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grant Stewart, a ranger from Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa. The benefits of Indigenous fire practices are becoming well-known.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Louie Davis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A living record</h2>
<p>Before 1788, Aboriginal cultures across Australia used fire to deliberately and skilfully manage the bush.</p>
<p>Broadly, it involved numerous, frequent fires that created fine-scale mosaics of burnt and unburnt patches. Developed over thousands of years, such burning made intense bushfires uncommon and made plant and animal foods more abundant. This benefited wildlife and <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2015.0169">sustained a biodiversity</a> of animals and plants. </p>
<p>Following European settlement, Aboriginal people were dispossessed of their land and the opportunity to manage it with fire. Since then, the Australian bush has seen dramatic <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/112/15/4531">biodiversity declines</a>, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/bt05070">tree invasion</a> of grasslands and more frequent and destructive <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-say-weve-seen-bushfires-worse-than-this-before-but-theyre-ignoring-a-few-key-facts-129391">bushfires</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-surprising-answer-to-a-hot-question-controlled-burns-often-fail-to-slow-a-bushfire-127022">A surprising answer to a hot question: controlled burns often fail to slow a bushfire</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In many parts of Australia, particularly densely settled areas, cultural burning practices have been severely disrupted. But in some regions, such as clan estates in Arnhem Land, unbroken traditions of fire management date back to the mid to late Pleistocene some <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2001.00555.x">50,000 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>Not all nations can draw on these living records of traditional fire management. </p>
<p>Indigenous people around the world, including in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118304190">western Europe</a>, used fire to manage flammable landscapes. But industrialisation, intensive agriculture and colonisation led to these practices being lost. </p>
<p>In most cases, historical records are the only way to learn about them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337835/original/file-20200527-141307-1hmff6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aborigines Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos, by Joseph Lycett. Indigenous people have used cultural fire practices for thousands of years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rising from the ashes</h2>
<p>In Australia, many Aboriginal people are <a href="https://www.firesticks.org.au">rekindling cultural practices</a>, sometimes in collaboration with <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-08/victorias-only-all-aboriginal-fire-brigade-at-lake-tyers-trust/9934884">non-indigenous land managers</a>. They are drawing on retained community knowledge of past fire practices – and in some cases, embracing practices from other regions. </p>
<p>Burning programs can be adapted to the challenges of a rapidly changing world. These include the need to protect assets, and new threats such as weeds, climate change, forest disturbances from logging and fire, and feral animals. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-evidence-greenies-block-bushfire-hazard-reduction-but-heres-a-controlled-burn-idea-worth-trying-129350">There's no evidence 'greenies' block bushfire hazard reduction but here's a controlled burn idea worth trying</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This process is outlined well in Victor Steffensen’s recent book <a href="https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2020/march-2020-no-419/742-environmental-studies/6274-tim-low-reviews-fire-country-how-indigenous-fire-management-could-help-save-australia-by-victor-steffensen">Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Help Save Australia</a>. Steffensen describes how, as an Aboriginal man born into two cultures, he made a journey of self-discovery – learning about fire management while being guided and mentored by two Aboriginal elders.</p>
<p>Together, they reintroduced fire into traditional lands on Cape York. These practices had been prohibited after European-based systems of land tenure and management were imposed.</p>
<p>Steffensen extended his experience to cultural renewal and ecological restoration across Australia, arguing this was critical to addressing the bushfire crisis: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The bottom line for me is that we need to work towards a whole other division of fire managers on the land […] A skilled team of indigenous and non-indigenous people that works in with the entire community, agencies and emergency services to deliver an effective and educational strategy into the future. One that is culturally based and connects to all the benefits for the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/299353829" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Making it happen</h2>
<p>So how do we realise this ideal? Explicit <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/affirmative-measure-recruiting-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians-guide-agencies">affirmative action</a> policies, funded by state and federal governments, are a practical way to protect and extend Aboriginal burning cultures.</p>
<p>Specifically, such programs should provide ways for Aboriginal people and communities to:</p>
<ul>
<li>develop their fire management knowledge and capacity</li>
<li>maintain and renew traditional cultural practices</li>
<li>enter mainstream fire management, including in leadership roles</li>
<li>enter a broad cross section of agencies, and community groups involved in fire management. </li>
</ul>
<p>This will require rapidly building capacity to train and employ Aboriginal fire practitioners.</p>
<p>In some instances, where the impact of colonisation has been most intense, action is needed to support Aboriginal communities to re-establish relationships with forested areas, following generations of forced removal from their Country.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-land-is-burning-and-western-science-does-not-have-all-the-answers-100331">Our land is burning, and Western science does not have all the answers</a>
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<p>Importantly, this empowerment will enable Aboriginal communities to re-establish their own cultural priorities and practices in caring for Country. Where these differ from the Eurocentric values of mainstream Australia, we must understand and respect the wisdom of those who have been custodians of this flammable landscape for millennia. </p>
<p>Non-indigenous Australians should also pay for these ancient skills. Funding schemes could include training, and ensuring affirmative action programs are implemented and achieve their goals. </p>
<p>Involving Aboriginal people and communities in the development of fire management will ensure cultural knowledge is shared on culturally agreed terms.</p>
<h2>Fire people, fire country</h2>
<p>In many ways, last summer’s fire season is a reminder of the brutal acquisition of land in Australia and its ongoing consequences for all Australians.</p>
<p>The challenges involved in helping to right this wrong, by enabling Aboriginal people to use their fire management practices, are complex. They span social justice, funding, legal liability, cultural rights, fire management and science. </p>
<p>Fundamentally, we must recognise that Aborigines are “fire people” who live on “fire country”. It’s time to embrace this ancient fact.</p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.palrc.com/about/andry-sculthorpe/">Andry Sculthorpe</a> of the <a href="https://tacinc.com.au">Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre</a> contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135196/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bowman receives funding to study fire ecology and management from the Australian Research Council (ARC) , the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC, and the Tasmanian Government Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Lehman receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, University of Tasmania, and University of Melbourne.</span></em></p>
The bushfire royal commission will look at incorporating Aboriginal knowledge into mainstream fire management. But in practice, what does that mean?
David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania
Greg Lehman, Pro Vice Chancellor, Aboriginal Leadership, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/129896
2020-01-15T19:10:49Z
2020-01-15T19:10:49Z
We have already had countless bushfire inquiries. What good will it do to have another?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310123/original/file-20200115-151880-feqde8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C3594%2C2376&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We know what has to be done. Now it's time to implement previous recommendations. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CPL TRISTAN KENNEDY/FIRST JOINT PUBLIC AFFAIRS UNIT HANDOUT/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As our country battles the most extensive fires of our lifetime, there are increasing calls for a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-12/bushfire-royal-commission-proposal-to-go-to-cabinet-morrison/11860954">royal commission</a> into the states and territories’ preparedness and the federal government’s response to the disaster.</p>
<p>A royal commission has <a href="https://ngm.com.au/royal-commissions/powers-of-royal-commission/">coercive powers</a> beyond a government inquiry, and the need for one implies there are facts and evidence that would otherwise be “hidden” to an inquiry or review.</p>
<p>Research I’ve recently conducted with other fire experts has concluded there have been 57 formal public inquiries, reviews and royal commissions related to bushfires and fire management since 1939, most of which are listed <a href="https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/utilisation/ddr">here</a>. I have given expert evidence to at least seven of them, including the <a href="http://royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Commission-Reports/Final-Report.html">2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission</a>. </p>
<p>That is more than one inquiry every two years in the past 80 years. Do we need yet another? </p>
<h2>Previous reviews that went nowhere</h2>
<p>Some of the recommendations of the <a href="https://digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/21344">Stretton Royal Commission</a> following the <a href="https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/history-and-incidents/black-friday-1939">Black Friday fires of 1939</a> have still not been fully implemented. </p>
<p>Many of the recommendations of the subsequent 56 inquiries have not been fully implemented either, so it raises serious questions about whether another royal commission will offer anything new or compelling.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bushfires-wont-change-climate-policy-overnight-but-morrison-can-shift-the-coalition-without-losing-face-129354">Bushfires won't change climate policy overnight. But Morrison can shift the Coalition without losing face</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Royal commissions are also expensive and time-consuming. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission had a budget of <a href="http://royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Commission-Reports/Final-Report/Volume-3/Chapters/Risk-and-Financial-Management.html">A$40 million</a> and ran for about 18 months. </p>
<p>This cost did not include the very considerable time and resources committed by various government agencies, companies and individuals who prepared and presented evidence to the commission. When these costs are taken into account, I estimate the total cost of the commission to Victoria would have been much more. </p>
<p>This begs the question as to how money spent on a federal royal commission could be better used to deal with bushfire management across the country.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1216916025452584966"}"></div></p>
<h2>A comprehensive fire management plan already exists</h2>
<p>In response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission and various other inquiries, fire managers from government agencies in all states and territories prepared a <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/media/4935/nationalbushfiremanagementpolicy_2014.pdf">National Bushfire Management Policy Statement for Forests and Rangelands</a>. </p>
<p>This policy statement was signed off by all COAG (Council of Australian Governments) members by early 2012 and published in 2014. As yet, there has been little action on implementing this policy.</p>
<p>The policy had a stated vision that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>fire regimes are effectively managed to maintain and enhance the protection of human life and property, and the health, biodiversity, tourism, recreation and production benefits derived from Australia’s forests and rangelands.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Central to this vision is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the role fire plays in maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. Sustainable long-term solutions are needed to address the causes of increased bushfire risk.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To achieve the intent of this policy, 14 national goals were identified. </p>
<p>The first was to maintain appropriate fire regimes with the right combination of size, intensity, frequency and seasonality to properly sustain the ecosystems in Australia’s forests and rangelands.</p>
<p>Another goal was to promote Indigenous Australians’ knowledge of fire management. This recognised the benefits of widespread, low-intensity, patchy fires across the landscape that are sustainable and create landscapes resilient to climate extremes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-only-one-way-to-make-bushfires-less-powerful-take-out-the-stuff-that-burns-129323">There's only one way to make bushfires less powerful: take out the stuff that burns</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And a third goal was to create employment, workforce education and training in bushfire management. This recognised the importance of fire management as an integrated part of our lives. </p>
<p>These goals – along with the 11 others in the statement – still need to be developed into measurable outputs and outcomes, but they set a comprehensive and sustainable fire management strategy for the country. </p>
<p>This policy statement goes much further than just considering how to respond to a bushfire emergency, which seems to be the focus of the call for a new royal commission by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310180/original/file-20200115-151876-1nsmky1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Morrison said Sunday he would take a proposal to establish a new royal commission into the bushfire disaster to Cabinet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Mariuz/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A better way forward</h2>
<p>Over the past 20 years or so, the tertiary education for land managers, such as professional foresters and rangers, has been reduced to the level of generic “environmental science”. This has largely been due to the politicisation of public land management. </p>
<p>Bushfire science is complex and fire management even more complex, so we need to have highly trained and qualified people managing our parks and forests. Instead, we typically have groups of individual specialists trying to collaborate without the strong leadership and direction such a task requires.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/watching-our-politicians-fumble-through-the-bushfire-crisis-im-overwhelmed-by-deja-vu-129338">Watching our politicians fumble through the bushfire crisis, I'm overwhelmed by déjà vu</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We do not expect a physicist or chemist to build a bridge, even though they could provide great detail about the forces acting on it and the metallurgy of the structure. Instead, we employ engineers. Likewise, we should not expect botanists, zoologists, ecologists or environmental scientists to manage the natural landscape. That, however, is what is happening now.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310184/original/file-20200115-151844-goa30z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What’s needed is a better national bushfire management strategy, not a commission into the response to the crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">STATE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The responsibility for land and fire management rests with each state and territory government. However, with support from the federal government and coordination through COAG, we should be able to develop an efficient and effective fire and land management program across Australia.</p>
<p>In his 1939 royal commission report, Judge Stretton observed of the Victorian Forests Commission chairman of the time, A.V. Galbraith,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if his Commission were placed beyond the reach of the sort of political authority to which he and his Department has for some time past been subjected, he would be of greater value to the State. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>His meaning is clear: good fire and land management needs to be done with long-term perspective, not a short-term political focus.</p>
<p>Stretton also observed the need to have public support, because</p>
<blockquote>
<p>without their approval and goodwill, there can be no real plan.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our changing climate has put more pressure on our natural ecosystems and the weaknesses in our land and fire management are being ruthlessly exposed. </p>
<p>Rather than using time and resources on inquiry No. 58, we should instead commit to fully implement the recommendations of all the previous inquiries, reviews and royal commissions we have already held. Another royal commission will only reiterate what we have known for decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129896/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Kevin Tolhurst AM receives funding from Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, NSW Rural Fire Service, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Authority, Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council and various private and legal business, for training and technical advice. </span></em></p>
Many of the recommendations of previous inquiries and reviews have yet to be implemented. What we need is a better fire and land management strategy – not another royal commission.
Kevin Tolhurst AM, Hon. Assoc. Prof., Fire Ecology and Management, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126941
2019-11-18T05:04:52Z
2019-11-18T05:04:52Z
Humans light 85% of bushfires, and we do virtually nothing to stop it
<p>It’s hard to comprehend why someone would deliberately light a bushfire. Yet this behaviour regularly occurs in Australia and other countries. We would go a long way to preventing bushfires if we better understood this troubling phenomenon.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/11/2946">Experts estimate</a> about <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2010/2010/33-chapter9-chapter.pdf">85% of bushfires</a> are <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/FINAL_ARC_SCEP_Fire_season_preparedness_7_July_2016.pdf">caused by humans</a>. The word “bushfires” in this context refers to any fire where vegetation is involved.</p>
<p>A person may accidentally or carelessly start a fire, such as leaving a campfire unattended or using machinery which creates sparks. Or a person could maliciously light a fire. </p>
<p>This criminal behaviour is <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/11/2946">not widely recognised or understood</a> by the public, fire authorities or researchers. This means opportunities to prevent bushfires are generally being missed and resources devoted to tackling the cause are far from commensurate with the devastating consequences.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302090/original/file-20191118-66917-ydd196.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2013 fire at Wallan, Victoria, was thought to be deliberately lit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MARK DADSWELL/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Profile of an arsonist</h2>
<p><a href="https://aic.gov.au/publications/tbp/tbp027">Research has shown</a> about 8% of officially recorded vegetation fires were attributed to malicious lighting, and another 22% as suspicious. However, about 40% of officially recorded vegetation fires did not have an assigned cause. When unassigned fires were investigated by fire investigators, the <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2010/06/apo-nid21608-1354551.pdf">majority were found</a> to be maliciously lit. </p>
<p>But official fires are just the tip of the iceberg: the actual number of bushfires in Australia is thought to be <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.150241">about five times</a> that recorded. Virtually none of these unrecorded fires are investigated.</p>
<p>Young men comprise the largest group of people who maliciously light fires. <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2010/06/apo-nid21608-1354551.pdf">These youth are usually troubled</a>, likely to have absent fathers and little home supervision. They are likely to have experienced child abuse and neglect and associated with an antisocial peer group. Lighting fires <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-35523-001">may give a feeling of excitement</a>, defiance and power, or it may be an expression of displaced anger. Some offenders have an intellectual disability.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-surprising-answer-to-a-hot-question-controlled-burns-often-fail-to-slow-a-bushfire-127022">A surprising answer to a hot question: controlled burns often fail to slow a bushfire</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Offenders may make no attempt to extinguish the fire, and give little consideration to the consequences. Some may have no feelings of remorse or fear of punishment. Others may never have intended to create such wide devastation.</p>
<p><a href="https://research.bond.edu.au/en/publications/the-psychology-of-arson-a-practical-guide-to-understanding-and-ma">Older males</a> who light malicious fires also have a history of social and educational disadvantage, poor family functioning in childhood, low self-esteem, and often a pathological interest in fire. However the older the person gets, the less likely they are to light fires. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302092/original/file-20191118-66932-1uw9kmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Convicted Black Saturday arsonist Brendan James Sokaluk arriving at the Supreme Court in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Smith/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So why don’t we talk about arson?</h2>
<p>During last week’s east-coast bushfire crisis, a handful of news reports covered people lighting fires. They include <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/14/nsw-and-queensland-fires-fourth-person-confirmed-dead-in-bushfires-near-kempsey">a teenager who allegedly lit a Queensland bushfire</a> that razed 14 homes, and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/man-charged-after-allegedly-starting-fire-with-fireworks-20191115-p53au0.html">a man charged with</a> starting a Sydney fire by letting off fireworks.</p>
<p>Media attention on a fire’s cause is generally scant and the public rarely hears much beyond initial charges being laid. This is in stark contrast to blanket news coverage of the consequences of bushfires.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-when-the-firies-call-him-out-on-climate-change-scott-morrison-should-listen-127049">Grattan on Friday: When the firies call him out on climate change, Scott Morrison should listen</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A staggeringly low apprehension and conviction rate for offenders - <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2010/06/apo-nid21608-1354551.pdf">less than 1%</a> - is a further barrier to public awareness of the problem. Conviction <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/227906/Arson_and_Deliberately_Lit_Fires_Final_Report_No_1.pdf">rarely</a> leads to a substantial punishment. </p>
<p>Fire brigades in most states offer a limited education course for some children who light fires, usually led by volunteers. But there are few targeted treatment programs for those who light bushfires.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302094/original/file-20191118-66979-138f5qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Firefighters near Sydney in November 2019 conducting controlled burning - a common fire mitigation method.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Piper/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rethinking the bushfire problem</h2>
<p>Rather than tackling the cause of the problem, the major response to bushfire in Australia is mitigation. This largely involves one blunt approach: hazard reduction burns to reduce bushfire fuel loads. This is an increasingly difficult task as climate change makes weather conditions more unsuitable for controlled burns.</p>
<p>This business-as-usual approach has <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/2/150241">not halted the upward trajectory</a> of bushfire ignitions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/12-simple-ways-you-can-reduce-bushfire-risk-to-older-homes-122712">12 simple ways you can reduce bushfire risk to older homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A much greater focus on prevention would require a significant rethinking of the bushfire problem. This would include collaboration between government, business, non-government organisations, communities and others. </p>
<p>Victoria’s Gippsland Arson Prevention Program provides a promising model. Through public education, media engagement and other means, it informs communities on how to help prevent arson. The committee includes Victoria Police, government and fire authorities and local power generators.</p>
<p>In one example of an on-the-ground response, local authorities organised the removal of dumped cars, which are commonly seen by bored and troubled youth as an invitation to start a fire.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VkpvK2-B9Cg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Arson prevention also includes addressing long-term problems such as youth disadvantage and unemployment, especially in rural-urban fringe areas where <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/black-saturday-urban-sprawl-and-climate-change-remain-key-dangers">most human-lit fires occur</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263327276_Environmental_criminology_and_the_potential_for_reducing_opportunities_for_bushfire_arson">Shorter-term approaches</a> include providing support and treatment to at-risk youth, and situational crime prevention such as good lighting and cameras in places vulnerable to fire lighting.</p>
<p>We must open up a society-wide discussion of bushfire prevention, which includes listening to local communities about what they value and what can be done about the problem. As climate change worsens – and bushfires along with it – a radical rethink is required.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The caption on the lead image of this article has been amended to say that an estimated 85% of fires are lit by humans, both deliberately and accidentally. A definition of the term “bushfire” has also been added, for clarity.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet Stanley has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Australia devotes countless resources to fighting bushfires, but precious little to examining the main cause - humans.
Janet Stanley, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126830
2019-11-14T03:47:51Z
2019-11-14T03:47:51Z
Virtual tools, real fires: how holograms and other tech could help outsmart bushfires
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301380/original/file-20191112-178525-wfsds6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In many countries including America, computer models are being used to predict how a fire will burn.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia continues to experience <a href="https://theconversation.com/drought-and-climate-change-were-the-kindling-and-now-the-east-coast-is-ablaze-126750">unprecedented destruction from bushfires</a>. Now is the time to harness our technological tools, and find innovative ways to help alleviate the problem, and also prevent future disaster. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_other/rmrs_2007_andrews_p001.pdf">Predictive mapping</a> has been a vital tool in an ongoing effort to identify at-risk forest areas and proactively manage the risks of fires. It works by analysing images to see what human eyes don’t always see. </p>
<p>Now, progress in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), drones, and Internet of Things sensors have opened new ways for us to better prevent and effectively respond to bushfires. For this, the key is to have plenty of data relevant to that location.</p>
<h2>Using tech to gather and distribute data</h2>
<p>Crucial data needed for bushfire prevention planning can come from a range of sources, including Internet of Things (IoT) sensors collecting weather data, archived data from the past, modelling tools, satellite images, and even social media.</p>
<p>These technologies can converge to gather a diverse range of data, helping us make predictions about the likelihood of an event occurring in a specific location with more speed and accuracy than ever before. Such predictions provide timely and targeted information that can greatly aid emergency services in doing their job, especially as they often have stretched resources on the ground.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-does-poor-air-quality-from-bushfire-smoke-affect-our-health-126835">How does poor air quality from bushfire smoke affect our health?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our goal now should be to integrate our use of these emerging technologies into existing systems of State Emergency Service departments, which can relay more strategically targeted information to local authorities who need it. This can be built into their existing systems.</p>
<h2>The potential of mesh networks</h2>
<p>Next-generation “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYLU755T6_I">mesh networks</a>” are an emerging technology made possible by the convergence of 5G, artificial intelligence, billions of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and virtual and augmented reality. </p>
<p>Whereas older networks are based on a limited number of access points, with mesh networks every person with a 5G-enabled smart phone is a node capable of connecting with everyone else. When 5G mobile phone service is rolled out across Australia, we’ll be able to do this. </p>
<p>With this technology, people in a bushfire or other disaster-afflicted area can create a local mesh network using their smartphone. They could contribute by recording 360 degree videos, make narrative reports about unfolding events, take close-up photos etc, then distribute these to the mesh network. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-flames-encroach-those-at-risk-may-lose-phone-signal-when-they-need-it-most-126827">As flames encroach, those at risk may lose phone signal when they need it most</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry">Photogrammetric</a> artificial intelligence can produce reliable information about physical environments by processing captured imagery. It integrates these videos to create live holograms in real time. This form of virtual reality will put observers right there on the ground. This will help authorities away from the scene to verify reports and more effectively coordinate relief efforts.</p>
<p>It may also assure family and friends that their loved ones in afflicted areas are OK.</p>
<h2>Learning from others</h2>
<p>California’s <a href="https://www.oneconcern.com/">One Concern</a> is an example of a next-generation disaster management service that provides a model for what could be achieved in Australia. </p>
<p>It has partnered with various city governments, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, to create virtual models of particular regions’ physical environment, by assigning “digital fingerprints” to each significant feature of that environment. The service constantly monitors any thermal shifts and seismic movement across the sensor network. </p>
<p>Processing this data together with historical data allows One Concern to run simulations to help determine the best course of action while a disaster event is unfolding. It can also highlight the most effective prevention methods, and where the greatest vulnerabilities are for the specific region and threat. </p>
<p>Crowd-sourcing software <a href="https://www.ushahidi.com/blog/2018/11/05/how-the-ushahidi-platform-works-and-what-comes-next">Ushahidi</a> (meaning “evidence” in Swahili) is another example of a useful tool for disaster or conflict management.</p>
<p>This free, open-source software is used at more than 100,000 communities globally.</p>
<p>During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_Kenyan_crisis">2007–2008 Kenyan election crisis</a>, a local blogger put a callout online. The blogger was seeking someone with the technical skills needed to produce a combined image of where violence was happening, to then overlay it on a map.</p>
<p>With no shortage of volunteers, it wasn’t long before the platform was up and running. Soon the site was crowd-sourcing up to 40,000 first-hand, geotagged and time-stamped reports. It also drew from social media posts and news articles.</p>
<p>The system was able to send information back to individuals on the ground to help them avoid locations where violence is reported. All of this happened beyond the surveillance capabilities of the government, which means contributors remained safe from reprisal.</p>
<h2>Looking to the future</h2>
<p>Traditional bushfire prevention methods so far have included managing <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/wildfire1.htm">fuel loads</a> with low intensity burns to reduce flammable vegetation and leaf-litter before they reach levels that result in destructive high-intensity. </p>
<p>While this method works where it is employed, it’s time we used 21st century solutions to tackle the increasing threat of bushfires. In many parts of Australia, the question is <em>when</em> a disaster will occur, not <em>if</em> it will.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/firestorms-and-flaming-tornadoes-how-bushfires-create-their-own-ferocious-weather-systems-126832">Firestorms and flaming tornadoes: how bushfires create their own ferocious weather systems</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>First responders facing an advancing fire need all the help they can get, and strategically gathered information from smart systems will give our firefighters a distinct advantage.</p>
<p>The technologies discussed above are some of the ways we can rise to the challenge. We need to build stronger, more capable ways of preventing disaster where possible, managing the disaster while it happens, and identifying ways of becoming more disaster-resilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Tuffley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The convergence of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality may offer hope for the way we manage future bushfire disasters.
David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/75844
2017-05-04T20:11:13Z
2017-05-04T20:11:13Z
Friday essay: caring for country and telling its stories
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167449/original/file-20170502-26313-zjenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Part of Mandy Martin's painting Cool Burn (2016): in her painting workshops at Djinkarr, Indigenous rangers brought the threats to their land to life on canvas.</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>This piece is republished with permission from Millennials Strike Back, the 56th edition of Griffith Review.</em></p>
<p>Small fires streak the savanna beneath me, as the land is worked and cleaned. The gentle smoke on the horizon is sign of a healthy country. In the distance, disappearing into a soft haze, lies the rugged stone country of the Arnhem Land Plateau. The plane wobbles over the mouth of the Liverpool River, where saltwater meets fresh, and descends towards a thin ribbon of grey on a cleared patch of thick, earthy red: the international airport. </p>
<p>On one side of the airstrip, a few dozen houses cluster around a football oval; on the other, a neat grid delineates the newest suburb, called simply “New Sub”. Maningrida, as our destination is known, takes its name from the Kunibídji phrase Mane djang karirra: “the place where the Dreaming changed shape”.</p>
<p>The town’s simple layout belies the immense cultural diversity of its inhabitants. On any given day, a visitor might hear the rippling sounds of Ndjébbana, Eastern Kunwinjku, Kune, Rembarrnga, Dangbon/Dalabon, Nakkára, Gurrgoni, Djinang, Wurlaki, Ganalpingu, Gupapuyngu, Kunbarlang, Gunnartpa, Burarra and English. In per capita terms, it is perhaps the most multilingual community in the world.</p>
<p>Indigenous ranger Ivan Namarnyilk picks up our small team of artists, scientists and historians from the airport and drives us out to Djinkarr, where we will be staying for the next week. Djinkarr is a small outstation powered by a run-up generator with beautiful fresh water pumped from the ground. It is one of dozens of such settlements scattered across western Arnhem Land: small clusters of houses inhabited by one or more family groups, often remote from the main settlements and usually poorly connected by unsealed bush tracks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167455/original/file-20170502-26320-18ukc5s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maisie Mirinwarmnga and Vera Cameron weaving in Maningrida as part of The Arnhembrand Project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mandy Martin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is the kind of outstation that is out of favour with the current government, the kind that former Prime Minister Tony Abbott targeted with his “lifestyle choices” rhetoric and that former minister Amanda Vanstone dismissed as a “cultural museum”. With the current government focus on “regional hubs” (the centralisation of services in towns), the long-term future of these outstations seems tenuous. Yet there are overwhelming benefits to having people living on country. People sustain country, and country in turn sustains people.</p>
<p>Anthropologist and economist Jon Altman, who has worked in the region since the late 1970s, argues that supporting local Indigenous communities in their efforts to stay on country should be regarded as a form of development and conservation: “Developing these communities in accord with market logic is replete with contradictions.”</p>
<p>Instead, he advocates a local “hybrid-economy” where customary activities – such as hunting, burning and painting – interact vigorously with state and market regimes. The experiences of community-based Indigenous ranger groups, which employ thousands of young men and women across Australia, demonstrate the immense benefits of this model. Through these programs, a new generation of Indigenous land managers are using cultural and historical experience, as well as new technology and Western expertise, to care for their country. It is no coincidence, Altman argues, that the most ecologically intact parts of the continent are Aboriginal owned and managed.</p>
<p>During the next week our team will be working from Djinkarr with dozens of Bininj, as the people of western Arnhem Land are known, to tell “healthy country” stories through paint and performance, science and oral history. Many of the artists involved, like Ivan, are also rangers who manage the Djelk Indigenous Protected Area to the south of Maningrida. I am helping to record the stories that are being captured in the art, as well as reflections from the rangers about their role in caring for country.</p>
<h2>Messing with the spirits</h2>
<p>The Djelk Indigenous Protected Area is a vast estate, extending across monsoon rainforests, tropical savannas, grasslands, wetlands, sea country and stone country – and it encompasses the territories of 102 clans. It has been carefully cultivated and transformed by people for over 50,000 years. But since the arrival of Europeans, this management system has broken down and the land is rapidly degrading. </p>
<p>Buffaloes, pigs, feral cats and cane toads have trampled, chewed, rubbed and wallowed their way across a delicate ecosystem, destroying habitats, spreading weeds, muddying springs, transforming the vegetation and exacerbating the eroding impact of wildfire. The effect on native species has been devastating. Their decline and extinction have deprived the Bininj of bush tucker as well as delivering a more existential loss: the displacement of totemic beings from their ancestral homes. “Such loss,” argues conservation biologist John Woinarski, “stains our society; it demonstrates that we are not living sustainably; it degrades our legacy.” As Ivan reflected in 2015: “Country is in the heart … Bininj, today, it’s like we’re suffering.”</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167450/original/file-20170502-26332-1bfybu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mandy Martin’s Cool Burn’ (2016), ochre, pigment and oil on linen, 75 x 75 cm in full.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the painting workshops that artists Mandy Martin and David Leece are facilitating at Djinkarr, this frustration comes to life in magnificent fluorescent colours on canvas. A sick echidna burrows into a termite nest surrounded by invasive plants and orange cane toads; the stomach contents of a feral cat are painted in x-ray style; electric-green mission grass grows up against white mimih figures on a rock wall. “That mission grass,” Ivan tells me, “it’s messing with the mimih spirits. It’s hiding them.” </p>
<p>The art is a powerful way of telling stories about the changes that are happening on their country, and which the rangers are working to control. It is also a means of raising awareness at a time when government support for Indigenous land management programs remains flimsy and ephemeral. The contrast of traditional ochres and fluorescent pigments seeks to capture the rupture that feral animals, invasive weeds and wildfire represent. </p>
<p>Ivan, who was taught to paint at the age of 12 by his father Timmy Namarnyilk and his “big” father, the rock-art master Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek, shows me another painting that captures the essence of the project. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167451/original/file-20170502-26330-pq2i5u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ivan Namarnyilk paints a fluorescent feral pig rubbing against ochre rock art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hugo Sharp</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is of a fluorescent feral pig rubbing up against the ochre art of a rock wall. “This troublemaker,” he tells me, pointing at the feral pig, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>he’s destroying all of our painting, this rock art here. Damaging stories. So maybe we’re going to tell stories of this one troublemaker, damaging our land.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘We know our sea country’</h2>
<p>Despite many attempts, Arnhem Land was never conquered, nor systematically settled by white colonists. The failures of successive large-scale and ill-devised schemes for development have, ironically, allowed northern Australia to retain vast areas of relatively unmodified landscapes. In 1933, journalist Ernestine Hill described Arnhem Land as being </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the only corner of Australia that has persistently baffled, and even frightened, the white pioneer… For one hundred years Arnhem Land, by the sheer ferocity of its natives, has defied colonisation. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anthropologists Rhys Jones and Betty Meehan believe the key to the resilience of the Bininj is their long history of contact with other cultures. For centuries, Macassan voyagers from Indonesia visited the shores of Arnhem Land in search of trepang, building houses and growing rice along the coastline, trading with local communities and even taking Bininj with them back to foreign ports. Macassan words entered the local dialects and still remain: “Balanda” (whitefella) is believed to have a Macassan root.</p>
<p>This long history of interaction ended in 1907 when the government refused to grant fishing licences to non-Australian operators. Only a few industries were exempt from this aspect of the White Australia Policy, and in the early 20th century Japanese pearlers began to frequent Bininj sea country, building wooden huts across the landscape.</p>
<p>Since 2007, the Djelk Rangers have joined with the Australian Customs Service (now the Australian Border Force) to monitor illegal fishing activities off the coast: the modern manifestation of a long history of cultural contact. This innovative arrangement involves fee-for-service payments, which are an integral part of the meagre funding the Djelk Rangers receive from the federal government. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167452/original/file-20170502-26313-wuwis4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ivan Namarnyilk on sea patrol.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hugo Sharp</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“We know all their hiding spots and where they need to come for fresh water because we have been trading with fishermen from Makassar for many centuries,” write rangers Victor Rostron, Wesley Campion and Ivan Namarnyilk. “This gives us a bit of an edge… We know our sea country.”</p>
<h2>Rejecting assimilation</h2>
<p>Maningrida was never meant to be a town, let alone the fourth-largest town in the Northern Territory. The idea for a “trading post” on the Liverpool River came from Syd Kyle-Little, a patrol officer of the Native Affairs Branch in Darwin.</p>
<p>In June 1949, he settled on a place known as “Muningreda”, paid locals with tobacco to build a paperbark storehouse and roved around the country spreading word of the new commercial centre. Hundreds of people came to drop off trade goods, seek medical assistance or work for supplies. But the settlement was short-lived. Soon after a devastating outbreak of disease in late 1949, in which many locals died, Maningrida was abandoned.</p>
<p>It was not until 1957 that the Welfare Department resolved to set up a government settlement in Maningrida. By 1969, more than 1000 Bininj lived in Maningrida along with 150 Balanda. But disease and alcoholism were rife. In town, Bininj lived in cramped housing camps, spiritually divorced from their homelands. Even those who remained on their country struggled with the new controls imposed on their traditional practices – especially burning – by Balanda law. Ingrid Drysdale, the wife of the first manager and first white woman to live at Maningrida, lamented that the traditional owners were “at the end of their ‘dreaming’”.</p>
<p>But around 1970, an unexpected phenomenon spread through the NT. In an explicit rejection of attempts at assimilation, Aboriginal people left the cramped housing in Maningrida and began moving back onto country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167456/original/file-20170502-26313-1dudw4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ranger Greg Wilson painting a feral cat at Djinkarr.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hugo Sharp</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Betty Meehan, who had set up the first school in Maningrida in 1958 and whose first husband, Les Hiatt, had studied social life during the initial contact period, was shocked by the rapid development of what became known as the outstation movement. When she returned to Maningrida in 1972 as an anthropologist in her own right, she was surprised to find that many of the Gidjingali people she had worked with in the town had returned to their homelands. </p>
<p>They were hunting and foraging across their rich coastal country surrounding the Blyth River, moving camps according to the seasons and religious needs, and supplementing their diet with food bought from the Maningrida store with money from art sales and pensions. </p>
<p>The outstation movement began tentatively, Helen Bond-Sharp reflects in her history of Maningrida, but with the election of the Whitlam government in 1972 it gained support and momentum under the new policies of self-determination. In the early years at Maningrida, Bininj had experienced a sedentary lifestyle for the first time – and they had rejected it. They were driven by a responsibility to return to country, to tend to sacred sites and to work the land through fire, ceremony, hunting and gathering.</p>
<h2>Buffalo and pigs</h2>
<p>After a few days, I break away from the painting workshops at Djinkarr and join the Djelk Rangers on one of their trips on country. The ranger shed is a hub of activity in the morning. One group of rangers prepares the boats for a day on the water in search of ghost nets and illegal fishermen; another loads leaf blowers, drippers and rakes into the back of a ute to use for burning. </p>
<p>The ranger program was created in 1991 as one of the pioneering Indigenous land management programs in the country. It now employs 30 male and female rangers, many in their twenties and thirties, who manage the land and sea country. Such programs have been shown to have immense ecological and cultural benefits, and are making important contributions to health, education and local economies, as well as offering meaningful employment to those who want to stay on country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167453/original/file-20170502-26332-xbvz8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Djelk Ranger burns off around an outstation in western Arnhem Land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hugo Sharp</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I am soon bundled into a car and we rumble out of town along the red dirt road, stopping on the way to check up on the outstations and to get permission from landowners to do work on their country. We drive south-east for an hour until the road dwindles into a track and takes us down onto the Ji-balbal floodplain, which is pocked with buffalo wallows and cobbled with their hoof marks. “This year we didn’t have much rain. None of this floodplain was flooded,” senior ranger Darryl Redford tells me. “It used to be.”</p>
<p>I help make firebreaks around the outstation, blowing and raking debris away from the houses, cars and water tanks, and then watching as Darryl flicks matches into dry leaves. There is no wind, so the flames creep slowly across the landscape, cleaning the country. It is a calm, cool burn. It is protecting the land and the infrastructure against the threat of late “hot” fires, which burn at a higher intensity because of weeds, and destroy habitats and blacken rock paintings on the Arnhem Land escarpment. </p>
<p>“You got to look after the rocks,” another ranger, Greg Wilson, says sombrely. “Our ancestors are on that.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167457/original/file-20170502-26330-oeq3ye.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Darryl Redford plots the location of a Mimosa pigra outbreak on his CyberTracker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guy Fitzhardinge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On another day, I return to the floodplain where we did the burning to help monitor the spread of Mimosa pigra: an insidious weed that spreads quickly, suffocates other plants and fuels damaging “hot” burns. We spread out in the thick vegetation, each searching our own line of bush for a rogue sprout. Whenever an outbreak is found, a series of high-pitched calls echo through the trees and everyone converges around the weed. Jethro Brian cuts it off at the stump with a big smile and piles the limbs of the tree into a neat circle. Darryl then pours a combination of access herbicide and diesel (siphoned from the car) over the pile and scatters some pellets, which will dissolve in the rain and kill off any loose seeds. They burn the bigger outbreaks. After every treatment, Darryl takes a photo and then records the location on his GPS CyberTracker.</p>
<p>Before returning to Maningrida, the rangers shoot a buffalo on the floodplain and efficiently strip the animal of its flesh as eagles gather and circle above. They stop at the outstation to exchange news about the mimosa outbreaks and distribute the meat to the landowners, keeping two legs for a barbeque at the ranger shed. </p>
<p>“That old man whose country we’re on,” Darryl says on the way back, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>he was telling me when he was a little boy, you know, he was saying everything was good. But he’s seen a lot of change. Soon as when the buffalo got here. Buffalo and pigs. They moved in and that time everything was changing.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Tradition and technology</h2>
<p>Today, rangers have incorporated the use of GPS, satellite imagery and aerial photography to help manage their country. Visual artist Alexander Boynes draws inspiration from this convergence of tradition and technology to add another dimension to the painting workshops at Djinkarr. He uses technologies such as depth mapping and 3D imaging to create installations with Aboriginal dancers about caring for country. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164998/original/image-20170412-643-1n81ybs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander Boynes’ Dreaming Story, Pigment Enamel on Acrylic and Aluminium.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The result is a dazzling, electric display of movement and sound, in which figures are broken up into lines and dots and primary colours. “The colours and textures used in Alexander’s artwork are very Dreamtime,” his sister and independent dance artist Laura Boynes reflects. “It looks a bit like the brushwork they do in their own paintings.”</p>
<p>Laura is talking with Bininj about healthy country stories – such as ferals and fire – with the goal of working with them to fuse “traditional dance with contemporary styles to create a new dance”. For her, live performance is key. Singing and movement are natural expressions of connections to country. </p>
<p>“When we dance we follow the stories, we follow everything,” one young performer, Brendon Cameron, reflects. “And plus when we sing, I follow the same story.”</p>
<p>On one of the final days, Laura collaborates with a group of men to choreograph a traditional/new wave dance. One hunches over an iPad, softly singing and drawing a digital image of red clouds and a polluted sea, which is projected onto the performance. Another plays didgeridoo, while a third thrusts a feathered ‘morning star’ pole at the audience with a blood-curdling cry. It is the story of a songline being broken by increasingly wild storms. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/205154504" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This performative aspect of the project – along with the digital dimension – feels fresh and exciting. And the reaction from younger generations in the community is immediate.</p>
<p>“The importance of the project,” Alexander explains, is to connect. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For people in the Djelk IPA to realise that there are people in the wider world who care very deeply about their country and their culture and really want to do very positive things to maintain the lives that they live. It’s not a lifestyle choice; it’s a way of life. It is their life on this land. And the stroke of a pen or the government of the day cannot undo or change 60,000 years of life on this land.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>This essay was amended on May 29 to include a correction to the number of rangers employed by the Djelk Ranger program, which is 30. The earlier version suggested ‘more than sixty’, which was incorrectly sourced from the Djelk Healthy Country Plan 2015–2025. This version now reflects the actual number of employees.</em></p>
<p><em>The essay grows out of a short-term, independent art and environment initiative known as ‘The Arnhembrand Project’. The paintings and digital works created during this project have been acquired, through donation, by the Center for Art + Environment, Nevada Museum of Art. The collection will be exhibited at the Macquarie Bank’s ‘Space’ gallery in Sydney from 6-27 July 2017. Learn more about ‘The Arnhembrand Project’ at arnhembrand.com.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Billy Griffiths does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Feral cats and pigs, mission grass and climate change - in western Arnhem Land, Indigenous rangers are battling many environmental threats. Through painting and performance, they are also telling ‘healthy country’ stories.
Billy Griffiths, PhD Candidate in History, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63943
2016-08-22T04:19:34Z
2016-08-22T04:19:34Z
New modelling on bushfires shows how they really burn through an area
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134738/original/image-20160819-12303-1n7fvu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fire rages through the forest in a typical Australian bushfire.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/imani/7820049526/">Flickr/HighExposure</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bushfires in Australia can have a devastating impact on an environment and destroy homes and lives, so any effort to prevent them is a welcome move.</p>
<p>But the way that we have traditionally understood bushfires and forest flammability in Australia is not up to the challenges of our changing climate. Thankfully, a new approach is making sense of the confusion by looking at the plants themselves.</p>
<p>Unfortunately though, time is running out. Years ago I could stand on a ridge in the mountains as winter gales roared through the Alpine Ash forests on the slopes below me. There’d be black cockatoos on the wind and the first hard snow flakes rattling on my coat. It was a wildness that stung the eyes with raw beauty.</p>
<p>Sadly those forests are dying. They are being burnt so often that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12433/full">they may be gone</a> by the end of the century. Like the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12200/abstract">tallest hardwoods in the world</a> and the <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/tasmanian-bushfires-threaten-iconic-ancient-forests-1.19308">thousand year old King Billy pines of Tasmania</a>, they are places we have no room for in our fossil fuel economy.</p>
<p>It’s not that fire is bad; our forests need it. But it’s coming so hard and fast in this changing climate. We fight the fires and we manage the fuels as best we can, but our best efforts are only as good as the science they are built on, and there are some hard questions to be asked about that science. </p>
<p>At the heart of our traditional approach are hand-drawn dots on a graph from a <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/26402708">leaflet</a> published by Australian <a href="http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/mcarthur-alan-grant-10889">bushfire expert Alan McArthur</a> in the 1960s. Nine data points telling us that if we halve the fuel load – the leaf litter on the ground – we can halve the speed of the fire.</p>
<p>It has never been backed by evidence, but in the absence of something better it became the bedrock of Australian fire management. One rule for all forests: burn them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134739/original/image-20160819-6906-553f2e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial infrared photo of the fire edge near Jindabyne in January, 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philip Zylstra</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in the past two hundred years, Australian forests have been <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379110003768">getting more fire</a> than at any time in the tens of thousands of years before, and all of the controlled burning is not helping. </p>
<p>For 26 out of 30 bioregions in south-east Australia, there is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12579/full">no evidence</a> that prescribed burning has reduced bush fire sizes.</p>
<h2>New thinking</h2>
<p>Clearly, it’s time for a rethink. Can a few centimetres of leaf litter on the ground really give us enormous crown fires? Any fire fighter will disagree, saying you need tree crowns to get a crown fire. The issue then is not how much fuel you have, but whether flames will span the gaps to ignite those plants.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134599/original/image-20160818-12274-xshx7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flames burning surface litter are small (top), large flames only occur when plants are burning (bottom).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philip Zylstra</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are no mysterious black box equations to tell us the answer to this, so it needs sound science. The <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0160715">Forest Flammability Model</a> we have developed is an attempt to join the dots and build a full picture.</p>
<p>How high will the flames be from a burning plant? How hot will it be above them at the next plant? How long will those leaves take to ignite? And will the first leaves stay alight long enough for that to happen?</p>
<p>The strength of this approach is that every part of it is open to question and improvement. If someone finds that the oils in leaves affect the way they ignite, or that they can better model the angle of a flame, we can build that in to our model.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134598/original/image-20160818-12300-d07ixh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two identical scenarios, but with different shrub species. Larger flames from the more flammable shrub (right) ignite the tree canopy, causing crown fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philip Zylstra</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Testing the model</h2>
<p>If flammability is about surface fuel load, then old forests are always more flammable than young ones because fuel accumulates. </p>
<p>But plants change as fire germinates some, they then grow and others die. The pattern of flammability could be different in every forest. When I looked at snow gums, I found that our model recreated the same pattern of flammability that we could see from <a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1332/">53 years of mapped history</a>. It broke the established rules as the regrowth was more flammable than the old forests. </p>
<p>Our team later looked at 58 sites across eight different ecosystems ranging from woodland to tall wet forest, all burnt under a wide range of conditions that gave everything from tiny flames to 30 metre crown fires. </p>
<p>Our model recreated the flame heights with an average error of only 40cm, and correctly predicted larger flames <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0160715">12 times more often</a> than the best available surface fuel model.</p>
<h2>Fire predictions</h2>
<p>The implications of this are significant. We can find where fire belongs and where it doesn’t. We can plan burn prescriptions around the plants they affect, find what the effects of logging or grazing might be and where it’s safe to build. We can see what will happen if more carbon dioxide changes leaves or more heatwaves dry some species.</p>
<p>Bushmen have long talked about “kerosene bush” – shrubs that go up in flame like a bonfire soaked with petrol – and ecologists have been studying individual traits that make leaves more or less flammable. </p>
<p>This model is the first complete picture of how it all fits together. It means that we are no longer limited to rules of thumb, that we can learn what we should have learnt long ago, the way fire should look in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Zylstra receives funding from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and is a recent member of the Greens.</span></em></p>
We can manage the risks from bushfires far more effectively if we look at the ways different plant species control the the way the fires burn.
Philip Zylstra, Research Fellow, flammability and fire behaviour, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/57720
2016-04-21T20:11:25Z
2016-04-21T20:11:25Z
Indigenous innovation could save a billion tonnes of greenhouse gases
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119421/original/image-20160420-25612-qtb608.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ranger Ray Nadjamerrek demonstrates early dry season burning techniques in West Arnhem Land, Australia.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warddeken Land Management. </span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Of the <a href="http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=GHGts1990-2012">50 billion tonnes</a> of greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year, about <a href="http://www.globalfiredata.org/index.html">2 billion tonnes (4%) come from wildfires</a>. Warmer temperatures, driven by El Niño, can drive emissions even higher. Emissions from <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesia-fires-threaten-to-send-even-modest-climate-ambitions-up-in-smoke-49155">last year’s Indonesian fires</a> alone were estimated to be 1.78 billion tonnes and, in 1997, 4.2 billion tonnes.</p>
<p>Getting wildfire emissions under control will be a vital part of combating climate change, particularly as part of increasing ambition to reduce emissions under the <a href="https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf">Paris Agreement</a>. Every possible opportunity for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change will need to be included in the new regime.</p>
<p>Wildfire is not specifically addressed in the Paris deal, but fire management can help meet several obligations under the agreement. Article 5 of the agreement states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parties should take action to conserve and enhance, as appropriate, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases … including forests.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Along with colleagues, I have been working with Indigenous people in northern Australia to understand how traditional fire management reduces emissions. Now we want to take this Australian innovation global. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119425/original/image-20160420-25601-p3m830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warddeken Land Management</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wildfire and climate change</h2>
<p>Fire-dependent ecosystems, such as tropical dry forests and savannas, cover around one-sixth of the global land surface. Indigenous people occupy most of these landscapes. </p>
<p>A major problem in all these landscapes is <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-013-0910-5">poor fire management</a>. <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/fiery-past.html">Large destructive fires</a> are prevalent as a result. Many of these fire-dependent landscapes are closely linked with tropical rainforests, so poor fire
regimes in savannas can have a significant impact on these forests as well. </p>
<p>In Australia, research has shown that burning the savanna in the early dry season rather than late can <a href="http://tfm.unu.edu/toolkit/australia/the-scientific-basis#overview">reduce emissions by as much as half</a>. This is in line with Indigenous fire practices.</p>
<p>Through the Australian government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/emissions-reduction-fund">Emissions Reduction Fund</a> (under which savanna burning can earn credits), Australia is leading the world in reintroducing traditional fire practices. </p>
<p>The first project to use these practices to generate carbon credits was the Western Arnhem Land Fire Agreement (WALFA), which started in 2006. A decade later, the Clean Energy Regulator (which manages the Emissions Reduction Fund) has approved 65 projects. </p>
<p>More than 30 of these now have contracts with the regulator for over 7 million tonnes of carbon worth more than A$90 million. Fourteen are either Indigenous-owned or have significant Indigenous involvement.</p>
<p>These projects have also created jobs in remote and vulnerable communities, improved biodiversity, reinvigorated Indigenous culture and improved food security and health by enabling people to move out of dysfunctional urban life back to country. These projects represent a rapidly developing business that will play an increasingly important role in climate change policies.</p>
<h2>Going global</h2>
<p>We and many other organisations have looked at whether we can apply this business model to other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt launched the <a href="http://tfm.unu.edu/news/news/findings-of-the-regional-feasibility-assessments-launched-at-cop21.html#info">final report</a> with the Kimberley Land Council at the Paris climate talks. </p>
<p>We found that better fire management could lead to reductions of wildfire emissions by as much as a third, and improve biodiversity and biosequestration, reducing total global greenhouse emissions by almost 1 billion tonnes each year. Perhaps more importantly, we also concluded that changing how we manage fires may be the only way to adapt to increasing wildfires predicted to occur thanks to climate change. </p>
<p>Our assessment confirmed strong interest in the technology in many key countries and among Indigenous people, philanthropic organisations and companies such as ConocoPhillips and INPEX.</p>
<p>This map shows average annual wildfire emissions and highlights the range of countries where this technique could be most useful.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118495/original/image-20160413-15861-iiirl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.globalfiredata.org/figures.html">Global Fire Emissions Database</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike other efforts to reduce emissions from land use, such as the many Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programs, traditional fire management substantially overcomes major problems such as permanence, land tenure, and monitoring, reporting and verification. </p>
<p>While <a href="http://tfm.unu.edu/toolkit">other countries have reintroduced traditional fire management</a>, none measure the emissions reductions as Australia does. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119426/original/image-20160420-25621-1xgf8dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early dry season managed savanna fire, Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IBAMA/Prevfogo.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>The next few years will significantly shape the prospects for these traditional fire management projects. </p>
<p>Australia’s climate change policies are set for comprehensive review in 2017, and climate change will be a key issue in the next federal election. The Paris Agreement provides important opportunities for land use management and carbon trading, which this Australian innovation can make an important contribution to achieving.</p>
<p>Traditional fire management represents a major “new” method of land use to mitigate climate change. As with REDD+, reaching its full potential will take decades and billions of dollars. </p>
<p>The next step is to develop a series of pilot sites in other countries. This should be accompanied by regional and international activities to develop the necessary monitoring, reporting and verification procedures along with providing awareness and policymaking support and working closely with relevant organisations.</p>
<p>Promoting this innovative Australian approach, which combines fire management, carbon abatement and Indigenous empowerment, represents a winning combination for global export, while matching existing government policies at all levels.</p>
<p>Support for the next phase of savanna fire management will therefore provide an interesting test of the government’s commitments to play a serious and constructive role in addressing climate change and to support innovation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Johnston receives funding from Government of Australia, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the US National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the German Government and the Christensen Fund. Sam Johnston is Head of the Traditional Knowledge Initiative and Senior Research Fellow, United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, International Research Visitor, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne, Member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law, University of Melbourne, Member of the IUCN Environmental Law Commission and Member of the Panel of Experts for the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic resources for Food and Agriculture.
</span></em></p>
Wildfire makes up about 4% of the greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year.
Sam Johnston, Senior Research Fellow, United Nations University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/53870
2016-02-25T23:28:58Z
2016-02-25T23:28:58Z
Low flammability plants could help our homes survive bushfires
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112856/original/image-20160225-15150-91t8sv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Throw another one on. Researchers tested plant flammability using a blow torch and barbecue. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Wyse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Destructive wildfires are becoming more common in many parts of the world and are <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0005102">predicted to worsen with climate change</a>. Therefore, we need to explore a range of options to reduce fire risk in the landscape, particularly in areas where human homes and infrastructure (or <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/tasmanian-bushfires-threaten-iconic-ancient-forests-1.19308">vulnerable ecosystems, such as in Tasmania</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/bushfires-are-pushing-species-towards-extinction-54109">wildlife</a>) are next to plants that fuel wildfires.</p>
<p>One approach to reducing wildfire spread is to plant “<a href="https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjj0e6fwO_KAhXDOJQKHeBgBRwQFggaMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fire.org.nz%2Fresearch%2FPublished-Reports%2FDocuments%2F89fa12a030b48531cf396dcdba52c6e2.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHGGN1DkwLXh8WIV1sDLKnl1l-hzQ&bvm=bv.113943164,d.dGo">green firebreaks</a>” – strips of vegetation made up of plants with low flammability. Green firebreaks are based on the idea that this less flammable vegetation will extinguish a fire, or embers <a href="http://learningcenter.firewise.org/Firefighter-Safety/1-11.php">spotting</a> ahead of a fire front.</p>
<p>Green firebreaks also serve other purposes. If comprised of native species, they can improve biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. They are also often more aesthetically pleasing than firebreaks of bare earth or lawn grass.</p>
<p>The planting of low-flammability species in gardens and on property boundaries has been advocated in many parts of the world, including <a href="http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/plant-selection-key/">Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjj0e6fwO_KAhXDOJQKHeBgBRwQFggaMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fire.org.nz%2Fresearch%2FPublished-Reports%2FDocuments%2F89fa12a030b48531cf396dcdba52c6e2.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHGGN1DkwLXh8WIV1sDLKnl1l-hzQ&bvm=bv.113943164,d.dGo">New Zealand</a>, the <a href="http://cesutter.ucanr.edu/files/156934.pdf">United States</a> and Europe. Many <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/bibliography/fire-plants.html">lists</a> of suitable species are available. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, <a href="http://cesutter.ucanr.edu/files/156934.pdf">many resources don’t specify</a> how these species lists were developed. <a href="http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/plant-selection-key/">Some base their recommendations on particular plant characteristics</a> known to influence flammability, while others come from observations of how well certain plants burn in wildfires. </p>
<p>However, very few lists are derived from <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=WF07128">experimental tests of plant flammability</a>. We set about testing which New Zealand plants were the least flammable – by throwing them on the barbecue. </p>
<h2>Burning New Zealand plants</h2>
<p>Wildfires in New Zealand are <a href="http://www.nzjf.org/free_issues/NZJF53_3_2008/7F748491-E699-4704-A072-5E14722F132F.pdf">rarely as destructive</a> or extensive as those in Australia or the US, but fire was <a href="http://newzealandecology.org/nzje/3198.pdf">responsible for widespread deforestation</a> in New Zealand following the two main waves of human settlement. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiy7vue0-_KAhVEJJQKHXTiAxEQFghFMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mpi.govt.nz%2Fdocument-vault%2F6214&usg=AFQjCNFeciM7hNIZ3lESJ-37X_jGHvno9g&bvm=bv.113943164,d.dGo">fire danger will likely increase</a> in parts of New Zealand due to climate change. Furthermore, certain New Zealand ecosystems have become more flammable due to <a href="http://newzealandecology.org/nzje/3198.pdf">invasions by exotic plant species</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjj0e6fwO_KAhXDOJQKHeBgBRwQFggaMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fire.org.nz%2Fresearch%2FPublished-Reports%2FDocuments%2F89fa12a030b48531cf396dcdba52c6e2.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHGGN1DkwLXh8WIV1sDLKnl1l-hzQ&bvm=bv.113943164,d.dGo">New Zealand guidelines on plant flammability</a> have existed for several decades, but have rarely been scientifically tested. These guidelines have been used to <a href="http://wellington.govt.nz/%7E/media/about-wellington/emergency-management/files/scrubfires.pdf">encourage people to plant green firebreaks</a>. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WF15047.htm">paper</a> published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire, we compared the flammability of 60 common plant species from New Zealand. We used a recently developed <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02222.x/abstract">method for testing shoot flammability</a>. This involves placing shoots on a grill (our “<a href="https://vimeo.com/144082851">plant barbecue</a>”), turning on a blowtorch and then measuring how easily samples ignited, how hot they got, how long they burned for, and how much of them burned. </p>
<p>We tested 27 species and found good agreement with the guidelines currently in use, showing that New Zealand fire managers have a good understanding of plant flammability.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/144082851" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chuck another one on the barbie.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found some surprises though. Two species (<a href="http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1036">silver beech</a> and <a href="http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2100">rimu</a>) had much higher flammability in our tests and others had much lower flammability than the national guidelines. This highlights the importance of using different methods to gauge plant flammability.</p>
<h2>How can this help me protect my home and property?</h2>
<p>Given favourable fire conditions, any plant will burn, so green firebreaks are unlikely to provide protection in extreme fire conditions. The best option to protect houses from such fires may well be to <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0029212">reduce fuel within a 40m radius</a>. </p>
<p>In less extreme fire conditions, green firebreaks are one of the options available to land managers to reduce fire spread across the landscape and could be established in areas where fire risk is greater, such as on the edge of highly flammable ecosystems. We should also consider deploying green firebreaks comprised of native species to help protect large-scale restoration projects.</p>
<p>At the individual plant level, certain <a href="http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/plant-selection-key/">traits make plants more or less flammable</a>. </p>
<p>One key factor is moisture content; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4220095/">plants with moister leaves are less likely to ignite</a> and don’t burn as readily. Hence, it helps to keep your plants well watered when fires threaten. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4220095/">Some plants retain dead leaves and branches</a> that provide ready fuel during a fire. Therefore, pruning dead limbs is a good way to reduce fire risk around your home.</p>
<p>While we are increasing our understanding of plant flammability, many questions remain. For instance, we have been testing plant shoots, but do whole plants burn differently? Under what climatic conditions does a low flammability species become a readily burning fuel? What happens when you burn low and high flammability species together? <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0079205">What risk do highly flammable weed species pose when they invade new areas</a>? </p>
<p>We plan to tackle these and other questions by throwing many more plants on our barbie!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
You might think having trees around your home is the worst idea during a bushfire, but some plants can actually help repel fire.
Tim Curran, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand
George Perry, Professor, School of Environment, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Sarah Wyse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Research Fellow, School of Environment, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.