the fire hazzard reduction program
By Birding-Aus, on September 4th, 2013
With so much smoke in the air today – it made me wonder just how beneficial such a practice is. To have so much wildlife destroyed and to do this in the middle of the breeding season – is it really the answer? No one likes wildfires, but this just seems so wrong to me. Surely it would be better to spend a lot more money educating, preventing, forest watching and tackling fires early when they occur in summer than to destroy so much right now. Check the extent of the damage being done here: http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/hr Cheers, Tony =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Jeremy, The paper deals with plant communities in south-eastern, as well as south-western Australia. I accept your point that these two regions are not the “vast majority” of Australia, but I dispute your claim that these regions have “narrow specific ecosystems”. Nor was the paper referring to narrow specific ecosystems. If you have the opportunity to read the paper it refers to a wide range of plant communities (and species within them), from heathlands, to dry open woodland and wet and dry forests, just to name a few. The reason I decided to respond to your earlier comment is that you said that eucalypt forests are especially adapted to regular fire regimes. Although eucalypt species can be found across most of Australia, many eucalypt forest communities are found within south-eastern and south-western Australia. The point that was raised in the paper is that what we have identified as adaptations to fire may in fact be exaptations (traits that have evolved for some other purpose, but which coincidentally assist plant species to survive bushfires) rather than traits that have specifically evolved to assist plant species to survive regular bushfires (i.e. adaptations). I’m not saying that the authors of the paper are right or wrong. I’m merely pointing out that there are alternative points of view out there. Kind regards, Stephen Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2013 4:07 PM Cc: Roger Giller; Frank O’Connor; birding-aus I don’t think anybody doubts the complexity of specific relationships between fire and ecosystems, especially when you’re talking about narrow specific ecosystems such as that paper. As I said too much and not enough fire are both problems. Last time I checked, South West WA does not make up the “vast majority” of Australia, and “vast majority” does not mean all. Jeremy On 5 September 2013 15:57, Stephen Ambrose < stephen@ambecol.com.au> wrote: especially Eucalyptus forests, inland mallee and grassland. The following review paper written by eminent biologists from the University of WA and Kings Park & Botanic Garden in Perth provides the contrary view for native vegetation that occurs in south-western and south-eastern Australia: Bradshaw, SD, Dixon, KW, Hopper, SD, Lambers, H., & Turner, SR (2011). Little evidence for fire-adapted plant trails in Mediterranean climate regions. Trends in Plant Science 16: 69-76 The paper was written out of the authors’ concerns of the ecological impacts of the extensive control-burning that occurs in south-western Australia, similar to those concerns already expressed by Frank O’Connor here on Birding-aus. Abstract As climate change increases vegetation combustibility, humans are impacted by wildfires through loss of lives and property, leading to an increased emphasis on prescribed burning practices to reduce hazards. A key and pervading concept accepted by most environmental managers is that combustible ecosystems have traditionally burnt because plants are fire adapted. In this opinion article, we explore the concept of plant traits adapted to fire in Mediterranean climates. In the light of major threats to biodiversity conservation, we recommend caution in deliberately increasing fire frequencies if ecosystem degradation and plant extinctions are to be averted as a result of the practice. The Paper’s Conclusion Our review of the literature suggests that traits commonly accepted as ‘fire adaptations’ of Mediterranean-climate plants have more complex origins and that environmental factors other than frequent fire have promoted their evolution [97]. Traits such as resprouting, serotiny, physical dormancy, facultative post-fire flowering and smoke-induced germination can all enhance survivorship and fitness under certain fire regimes, but these should be considered as exaptations rather than adaptations (Table 1). This selective advantage is readily negated, however, in plant communities in which fires occur with a frequency higher than the time taken to flower and set seed for the slowest-maturing species in that community. The impact of fires on communities is also a function of their intensity and the season in which they occur, both of which can override any inherent advantages flowing from morphological and physiological exaptations. Climate change, with increasing temperatures and declining rainfall predicted in Mediterranean biomes in the coming decades, is likely to exacerbate the current loss of biodiversity in these regions and will present a major challenge for environmental managers also charged with protecting human life and property [98]. We question the widespread assumption that Mediterranean-ecosystem species are adapted to fire and suggest that caution is required in the use of frequent prescribed burning if ecosystem degradation and plant extinctions are to be averted as a result of the practice. Kind regards, Stephen Dr Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I don’t think anybody doubts the complexity of specific relationships between fire and ecosystems, especially when you’re talking about narrow specific ecosystems such as that paper. As I said too much and not enough fire are both problems. Last time I checked, South West WA does not make up the “vast majority” of Australia, and “vast majority” does not mean all. Jeremy On 5 September 2013 15:57, Stephen Ambrose < stephen@ambecol.com.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
especially Eucalyptus forests, inland mallee and grassland. The following review paper written by eminent biologists from the University of WA and Kings Park & Botanic Garden in Perth provides the contrary view for native vegetation that occurs in south-western and south-eastern Australia: Bradshaw, SD, Dixon, KW, Hopper, SD, Lambers, H., & Turner, SR (2011). Little evidence for fire-adapted plant trails in Mediterranean climate regions. Trends in Plant Science 16: 69-76 The paper was written out of the authors’ concerns of the ecological impacts of the extensive control-burning that occurs in south-western Australia, similar to those concerns already expressed by Frank O’Connor here on Birding-aus. Abstract As climate change increases vegetation combustibility, humans are impacted by wildfires through loss of lives and property, leading to an increased emphasis on prescribed burning practices to reduce hazards. A key and pervading concept accepted by most environmental managers is that combustible ecosystems have traditionally burnt because plants are fire adapted. In this opinion article, we explore the concept of plant traits adapted to fire in Mediterranean climates. In the light of major threats to biodiversity conservation, we recommend caution in deliberately increasing fire frequencies if ecosystem degradation and plant extinctions are to be averted as a result of the practice. The Paper’s Conclusion Our review of the literature suggests that traits commonly accepted as ‘fire adaptations’ of Mediterranean-climate plants have more complex origins and that environmental factors other than frequent fire have promoted their evolution [97]. Traits such as resprouting, serotiny, physical dormancy, facultative post-fire flowering and smoke-induced germination can all enhance survivorship and fitness under certain fire regimes, but these should be considered as exaptations rather than adaptations (Table 1). This selective advantage is readily negated, however, in plant communities in which fires occur with a frequency higher than the time taken to flower and set seed for the slowest-maturing species in that community. The impact of fires on communities is also a function of their intensity and the season in which they occur, both of which can override any inherent advantages flowing from morphological and physiological exaptations. Climate change, with increasing temperatures and declining rainfall predicted in Mediterranean biomes in the coming decades, is likely to exacerbate the current loss of biodiversity in these regions and will present a major challenge for environmental managers also charged with protecting human life and property [98]. We question the widespread assumption that Mediterranean-ecosystem species are adapted to fire and suggest that caution is required in the use of frequent prescribed burning if ecosystem degradation and plant extinctions are to be averted as a result of the practice. Kind regards, Stephen Dr Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Graeme, thank you for that – Jambie’s comments mirror those of Indigenous people I know. Once out at Gudjekbinj, western Arnhem Land, a lady in her mid-seventies I called “sister”, came out driving with me to visit an area of the country she’d not seen for decades – the understorey was of tangled Imperata and Heteropogon triciteus. Immediately she wanted “matches” to “clean up” the country. On another occasion I was out there in July with relatives and guests from the Australian Museum Society, when a man I called “son”, as near a traditional man as one could find in the area, decided to show the children how the country was burnt in a traditional way. He made torches out of stringybark and guiding the kids showed them how to fire the speargrass. Some of the adults nearly had a fit, but Djedje (my child), knew what he was doing, of course. The widely spaced speargrass burnt rapidly at first and then slowed right down. Those Kunwinjku people were worried about all the burning they saw along the Arnhem Highway, telling me it was “too much”. Denise On 5/9/13 2:43 PM, “Graeme Stevens” < gestev45@hotmail.com> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Well that format was a heck of a mess when pasted across! Apologies to the list. G =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
The vast majority of Australia’s bush is adapted to regular fire regimes – especially Eucalyptus forests, inland mallee and grassland. Both too frequent fire and not enough fire cause losses of habitat to fire adapted plants and animals. Areas like Kakadu have fire management plans based on scientific work estimating the normal fire regime. While Kakadu is burnt each year, some places are never burnt, and the burning regimes are determined by the fire ecology of the area. Grasses such as Tiodia (“spinifex”) can have especially short natural fire regimes, and have evolved to burn frequently. Many of the native plants growing amongst spinifex are obligate fire seeders, and cannot reproduce without fire. There is an attitude amongst many Australians that fire is either generally bad, or specifically bad for the environment. This view is as wrong as suggesting that water is bad for the environment. Too much or not enough certainly can be, but the majority of land needs it at regular intervals, or they will change completely and be very difficult to return to their natural state. Jeremy On 5 September 2013 13:58, Roger Giller < rgiller@optusnet.com.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Frank, While agree with your other points I can not let the first one go unchallenged. Burning the bush is only one step in a relatively short term cycle. As it grows it sucks up carbon. When it is burnt, or dies and decays, the carbon goes back into the atmosphere it came from. If the bush is burnt every X number of years then on average nothing changes. (Note that I am only referring here to the effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, not the ecology, which sadly is the loser in all this) The problem with climate change is the burning of fossil fuels. They locked up the carbon millions of years ago. Life as we now know it has evolved to be happy with the concentration of carbon dioxide that remained in the atmosphere, until we started adding to it by accessing and burning the fossil fuels. Roger Giller. —–Original Message—– Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2013 4:04 AM Tony, I couldn’t agree more. It has long been a bug bear of mine in WA. But you get one major wildfire, and it is blamed on not enough control burns (even if it is a firestorm that nothing would stop), and they seem to be given open slather to burn anywhere. A few thoughts I have had over the years. 1. Is this ‘control burn’ practice counted in the greenhouse gas emissions? On the one hand, there are credits for locking up carbon in plantations, etc. On the other, they ruthlessly burn the bush. 2. I have no problem with some control burns. e.g. 500 metres around towns. 100 metres around major property. 50 metres along major roads. But they blanket burn areas. This is legalised arson. 3. There was a proposal after the Victorian bushfires to burn national parks in Victoria on a 20 year rotation. This was decided that it had to be for every national park / reserve. So they were going to burn the old growth mallee. This would have been a disaster for mallee / spinifex species. I wrote a letter to the department against this. I don’t know the final outcome. 4. In WA, there have been occurrences where ‘controlled burns’ got out of control. My understanding of the Margaret River fires is that they tried on 13 days to set it alight, and finally succeeded on a day of forecast severe conditions (40+ knot winds, hot weather, etc). There have been controlled burns in the Fitzgerald River NP that burnt out a camp ground (including the Malleefowl that had an active mound), and almost burnt down the rangers house. There are others I am aware of. I have heard that a control burn to protect Western Ground Parrot habitat in Cape Arid NP got out of control and burnt out about 40% of the WGP habitat they were trying to protect. They did not have emergency equipment on standby (e.g. the water bombing aircraft), or it was needed for other purposes. Was this because the WGPs were not valuable enough. 5. My impression of CALM / then DEC / now DPaW in WA is that they have people heavily involved in wildlife, others who are experienced in managing reserves, and others who are experienced in fires. The former (too few for all the conservation issues we have) don’t seem to have much influence when it comes to burning off practices. 6. In south west WA, I am sure they would like to burn more in spring, but I think they get issues with winds, and also conditions moving the smoke over the metropolitan area which is a bad look. So my impression is that a lot of the control burns are done in autumn. They always complain that they can’t reach their target. 7. The Kimberley and areas such as Kakadu have the crap burnt out of them year after year. They fly planes over dropping fire balls. This is not good for the environment to happen year after year. 8. When I have been to inland areas with spinifex in the past few years, it has been getting harder and harder to find areas of old growth spinifex suitable for species such as grasswrens, Rufous-crowned Emu-wren and Spinifexbird (plus all the mammals and reptiles that prefer this habitat). e.g. Cape Range NP. Near Newman. Near Paraburdoo. 9. This issue seems to be ‘the white elephant in the room’ to a large extent. Noone wants to seriously discuss it. If you do, you get attacked and all the wildfire damage is brought up, as I said as though the lack of controlled burns is the major cause. There does need to be some control, but I cannot agree with any blanket burning of large areas, whether it is spring or autumn. There, I have got it off my chest. It won’t change things though. _________________________________________________________________ Frank O’Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email : foconnor@iinet.net.au =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I believe that because Kakadu has “the crap” burnt out of it year after year, is in large part responsible for the decline of native mammals and probably other wildlife. Many taxa live in the hollows of common eucalypts such as E. miniata and E. tetrodonta. These trees can take 30-50 years to develop substantial hollows. Top End eucalypts are fire-tolerant, and can survive being burnt relatively regularly, But year after year fires scar the bark and eventually fire enters and the tree burns down. White-throated Grasswren habitat at Gunlom Falls burns regularly. I don’t bother going there any more. For a start if it hasn’t burnt I don’t want to be standing in the midst of all that flammable spinifex when one of the crowd at the top of the falls throws their cigarette butt away. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, Darwin River, NT 0841 043 8650 835 On 5/9/13 3:33 AM, “Frank O’Connor” < foconnor@iinet.net.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Sorry, I meant decorticate bark! Denise Fauna and flora in the Top End is adapted to relatively cool fires. For example our eucalypts have less oil in their leaves than southern species, and they lack the decordicate bark. This is from, written by Gabriel Crowley. Gamba Grass is so vigorous that little else grows near it. It is able to trap most of the available nitrogen to the exclusion of other plants. Small ground-layer plants are most at risk – the endangered Glenluckie Helicteres being one of them. Two of the three known populations of this small shrub grow in areas that are heavily infested by Gamba Grass. The voluminous bulk of Gamba Grass results in fires that are both intense and extensive. Even in the early dry season, they may cause complete ground cover and canopy loss. Several species may be both outcompeted by Gamba Grass and then incinerated in a Gamba Grass-fuelled fire. The Vulnerable Armstrong’s Cycad is one threatened plant that could be lost in this process. Gamba Grass increases the fuel load to such an extent that even tree death from fire becomes a regular event. While all tree death as a result of exotic grass fires is undesirable, the impact on rainforests is the most worrying. Rainforests in the Northern Territory largely persist in fire-protected pockets created by topography, rock formations and springs. Gamba Grass can encroach on these pockets, rendering them flammable instead of fire-protected. The first rainforest plants to be displaced by Gamba Grass fires are likely to be species found at the rainforest edge, such as the epiphytic Luisia Orchid and the ground-dwelling Malaxis orchid. If such fires cause further attrition of rainforest patches, even species typically found in the core of patches, such as the Darwin Palm, Pternandra and the ground-dwelling Zeuxine orchid, could be affected. Large stands of Gamba Grass grow on the Mary River floodplain, where they abut hills containing the threatened rainforest species Yellow Star. If Gamba Grass is not controlled in this area, the habitat of this species is likely to get burnt, and Yellow Star along with it. On the Tiwi Islands, fires fuelled by Gamba Grass could also threaten rainforests containing Mitrella, Quandong, Xylopia, Native Walnut, Tarennoidea, Tiwi Islands Waxflower, Mapania and Dendromyza. Through its effect on fire regime Gamba Grass also has the potential to reduce the abundance of the two Typhonium species that are found only on the Tiwi Islands. The impact on animals can be equally severe. Large Gamba Grass plants leave little or no spaces between grass clumps, reducing the feeding habitat of many species. Additionally, wildlife have nowhere to hide from the flames of Gamba Grass fire, and after fire, cannot access the shelter that would have once been provided by unburnt patches of grass, leaf litter and logs. Hollows high up in the tree canopy may also be burnt. If these are occupied during a fire, the animals inside them will probably die. Once a fire has passed, surviving animals can be deprived of shelter and nesting sites. Each of these processes can be devastating, as the following examples illustrate. For much of the year, Gouldian Finches and Partridge Pigeons feed on seeds that fall on patches of bare ground between clumps of grasses and other herbaceous plants. Gamba Grass can completely destroy this habitat. First it replaces the seed-producing native plants. Then, as the growing season progresses, it occupies any bare ground, and, if burnt, later converts much of the habitat to little else besides bare ground. Were Gamba Grass to invade Gouldian Finch habitat, the intense fires it fuels are also likely to destroy nest trees. If lit early in the year, these fires may also kill chicks in the nests. Similarly, survival of Northern Quoll, Brush-tailed Rabbit-rat, or Northern Brush-tailed Phascogale individuals sheltering in tree hollows burnt in Gamba Grass fires could be jeopadised (sic). Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, Darwin River, NT 0841 043 8650 835 On 4/9/13 6:45 PM, “Charles” < ccgfh@yahoo.com.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Fauna and flora in the Top End is adapted to relatively cool fires. For example our eucalypts have less oil in their leaves than southern species, and they lack the decordicate bark. This is from, written by Gabriel Crowley. Gamba Grass is so vigorous that little else grows near it. It is able to trap most of the available nitrogen to the exclusion of other plants. Small ground-layer plants are most at risk – the endangered Glenluckie Helicteres being one of them. Two of the three known populations of this small shrub grow in areas that are heavily infested by Gamba Grass. The voluminous bulk of Gamba Grass results in fires that are both intense and extensive. Even in the early dry season, they may cause complete ground cover and canopy loss. Several species may be both outcompeted by Gamba Grass and then incinerated in a Gamba Grass-fuelled fire. The Vulnerable Armstrong’s Cycad is one threatened plant that could be lost in this process. Gamba Grass increases the fuel load to such an extent that even tree death from fire becomes a regular event. While all tree death as a result of exotic grass fires is undesirable, the impact on rainforests is the most worrying. Rainforests in the Northern Territory largely persist in fire-protected pockets created by topography, rock formations and springs. Gamba Grass can encroach on these pockets, rendering them flammable instead of fire-protected. The first rainforest plants to be displaced by Gamba Grass fires are likely to be species found at the rainforest edge, such as the epiphytic Luisia Orchid and the ground-dwelling Malaxis orchid. If such fires cause further attrition of rainforest patches, even species typically found in the core of patches, such as the Darwin Palm, Pternandra and the ground-dwelling Zeuxine orchid, could be affected. Large stands of Gamba Grass grow on the Mary River floodplain, where they abut hills containing the threatened rainforest species Yellow Star. If Gamba Grass is not controlled in this area, the habitat of this species is likely to get burnt, and Yellow Star along with it. On the Tiwi Islands, fires fuelled by Gamba Grass could also threaten rainforests containing Mitrella, Quandong, Xylopia, Native Walnut, Tarennoidea, Tiwi Islands Waxflower, Mapania and Dendromyza. Through its effect on fire regime Gamba Grass also has the potential to reduce the abundance of the two Typhonium species that are found only on the Tiwi Islands. The impact on animals can be equally severe. Large Gamba Grass plants leave little or no spaces between grass clumps, reducing the feeding habitat of many species. Additionally, wildlife have nowhere to hide from the flames of Gamba Grass fire, and after fire, cannot access the shelter that would have once been provided by unburnt patches of grass, leaf litter and logs. Hollows high up in the tree canopy may also be burnt. If these are occupied during a fire, the animals inside them will probably die. Once a fire has passed, surviving animals can be deprived of shelter and nesting sites. Each of these processes can be devastating, as the following examples illustrate. For much of the year, Gouldian Finches and Partridge Pigeons feed on seeds that fall on patches of bare ground between clumps of grasses and other herbaceous plants. Gamba Grass can completely destroy this habitat. First it replaces the seed-producing native plants. Then, as the growing season progresses, it occupies any bare ground, and, if burnt, later converts much of the habitat to little else besides bare ground. Were Gamba Grass to invade Gouldian Finch habitat, the intense fires it fuels are also likely to destroy nest trees. If lit early in the year, these fires may also kill chicks in the nests. Similarly, survival of Northern Quoll, Brush-tailed Rabbit-rat, or Northern Brush-tailed Phascogale individuals sheltering in tree hollows burnt in Gamba Grass fires could be jeopadised (sic). Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, Darwin River, NT 0841 043 8650 835 On 4/9/13 6:45 PM, “Charles” < ccgfh@yahoo.com.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Do they consider areas that contain rare and endangered fauna? And if so look to relocate? I doubt it. Aussie plants and animals are rather used to fires though (both natural and those started by humans for the last 50,000 odd years or so). Cheers, Charles Hunter +61 402 907 577 On 04/09/2013, at 6:22 PM, Tony Palliser < tonyp@bigpond.net.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Tony, hear hear. Here in the Top End wildfires can occur twice a year now, thanks to Gamba Grass. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, Darwin River, NT 0841 043 8650 835 On 4/9/13 5:52 PM, “Tony Palliser” < tonyp@bigpond.net.au> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================