Prescribed burning

On a warm, cloudless October afternoon, a dozen firefighters and park rangers from distant parts of Victoria and New South Wales wander about a thick area of mallee scrubland south of Mildura, waving small, plastic-coated fold-out guides to the flora of the area while uttering what to the uninitiated might sound like the coded mantras of a secret society.

Leading them is Dr Miguel Cruz, a scientist with the CSIRO’s Bushfire Dynamics and Applications group in Canberra and a Bushfire CRC researcher.

A two-day forum on Fire in the High Country attracted 110 people in May 2010. The forum was held at the Lake Hume resort in Albury and featured much Bushfire CRC research from the HighFire Project as well as other Bushfire CRC research related to the issue.  Positive feedback from the attendees reinforced the success of the forum.

This forum presented the latest research findings to operational fire managers with the aim of raising awareness and providing opportunities for researchers and operational fire managers to interact and discuss the major issues.

The controversial issue of prescribed burning was examined at a special session of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. Fire Australia (Winter 2010) reported on a rare meeting of minds and what it means for fire research.

Australian forest managers have long been challenged to justify the environmental credentials of their practices. This includes the key practice of fuel reduction burning whose merits have been fiercely debated since Victoria’s 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires.

Tropical savanna burning research was on show in September as part of the annual conference.

Participants at the Bushfire CRC/AFAC annual conference were given the opportunity to see Top End science in action with a series of field trips to research sites.

More 70 people attended to field days after the main conference program ended with visits to the Territory Wildlife Park, Litchfield National Park, and the Adelaide River Wetlands.