According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change late last month, sequestering carbon dioxide is only one of the crucial climate-regulating attributes inherent to the world’s forests.
According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change late last month, sequestering carbon dioxide is only one of the crucial climate-regulating attributes inherent to the world’s forests.
Land at low risk of bushfires has been set alight to fulfil the target of a state program while high-risk areas have been missed, expert says. In a submission to the Andrews government’s review of the state’s program, La Trobe University professor Mike Clarke said the current “blanket” approach to burning 5 per cent of …
Bill Gammage has become a cult figure for many people who believe we need to burn the bush ‘as Aborigines did’. He has even convinced quite a few environmentally concerned people through his book The Biggest Estate on Earth that regular burning is needed. However, what we rarely hear above the unquestioning accolades are the …
Once the landscape was well endowed with mature large trees and the wildlife that evolved to make use of these trees were numerous. Now they are extremely rare and becoming more threatened with every burn, with every logging operation and a government fearful that a falling tree could mean litigation. We all know that rare …
Victoria’s forests have an unlikely fire warden: the superb lyrebird. “Lyrebirds are reducing the chance of fires occurring in the areas where they forage … and unburnt patches within large wildfires are really important sites for animals to survive.” New research has revealed the iconic songbird reduces the risk of bushfire by spreading dry leaf …
Lyrebirds are but one aspect of our forests’ natural army of ‘fuel reducers’. Bandicoots, Potoroos, and other small diggers, hoppers and scratchers are all extremely important in turning over the forest’s compost daily. Add to this work force the insects and their larvae, termites and fungi that are constantly devouring leaves, twigs and even logs. …
Scientists warn that the wrong fire patterns could see more losses of threatened species across the country. IN LATE JANUARY 2014, after wildfires tore through two conservation parks in South Australia, researchers scoured the charred terrain for signs of life. They hoped to glimpse a mouse-sized flicker of blue and gold or hear a high …
Brilliant investigation into the crooked management of fires. Big fires = big drama = big money! The similarities with Victoria are uncanny but not at all surprising (Ed.) It’s claimed a long running turf war over the control of fire fighting in NSW is affecting fire ground operations as the NSW Rural Fire Service faces …
Victoria must use risk-based land management burns to prevent bushfires, and dump an annual target, national parks groups say. Last month Environment Minister Lisa Neville asked the Inspector-General for Emergency Management to conduct a review of performance targets for a future bushfire fuel management program on public land. The Black Saturday Royal Commission recommended a …
A popular argument suggests Aboriginal people always burned country so non-Aboriginal Australians should too, albeit for modern purposes, such as fuel reduction burns. Historian Bill Gammage argued this in the popular and influential book The Biggest Estate on Earth (2011). Remarkably, the book has attracted the praise of writers from both the left wing Green …
There will be a review of the 5% burn target, with the report delivered by the end of March (6 weeks)! The Minister’s media release says: “The review will examine a risk-based approach to bushfire fuel management against the existing hectare-based performance target program. The Inspector-General for Emergency Management has been asked to deliver his …
