Fire
Fires have been a feature of the Australian continent ever since it broke away from the Gondwanan landmass 50 million years ago. Today, fire is a significant public safety issue as well as an issue for our native ecosystems and the many tens of thousands of species that live within them. Most eucalypt forests and woodlands, heathlands, grasslands and banksia woodlands have evolved to be dependent on occasional fire in many ways. But different ecosystems have very different responses to fire. Some, such as alpine areas, are not fire dependent and others, like rainforests, are damaged or destroyed by fire. |
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Climate change will bring more frequent and intense bushfires to Victoria, as our weather becomes warmer and drier and lightening storms increase.
This has clear implications for public safety, and for our biodiversity. Sadly, the impacts these changes will have on our ecosystems and the many tens of thousands of species that live within them remain scarcely understood.
Fire and biodiversity - notes from the symposium
In October 2011 the VNPA organised a joint fire and biodiversity symposium wih the Royal Society of Victoria. The symposium was attended by 120 scientists, land mangers and other interested people.
VNPA response to Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission
In response to the findings of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission the VNPA has prepared three issues papers. You can download them below:
Issues paper: Clearing of roadside vegetation Issues paper: Fuel reduction burning Issues paper: Planning and native vegetation
Royal Commission into the 2009 fires
The VNPA has supported the Royal Commission inquiry set up by Victorian Premier John Brumby into the state's 2009 bushfires. The Commission's final recommendations are due on 31 July 2010.
Reducing fuel for fire
Increasing our fuel-reduction burn target is not the answer, writes Phil Ingamells in the Weekly Times.
Planned burns and clearing will not stop catastrophic fire events
A report commissioned by the Victorian National Parks Association and other major environmental groups has found that burns did not significantly slow the spread of bushfire in the catastrophic conditions of Black Saturday.
More to learn about fire before setting a burn-off target
VNPA parks protection officer Phil Ingamells writes in The Age newspaper about the vexed issue of fuel-reduction burning.
Royal Commission and planned burning
After two weeks of investigations, the Commission's Council Assisting made recommendations on planned burning to the Commissioners.
Re-think fuel reduction burns
The fires of Black Saturday were truly terrible, but it may be time to take a deep breath before we take revenge on the bush, writes Phil Ingamells.