Association of Consulting Foresters of Australia
Fire Management Statement
Fire management is a long-term process. To be effective it has to be carried out over many years. It is not just last year's hazard reduction burning. It is not standing at an urban interface squirting water on an intense fire. It is not helicopters dropping retardant. It is not relying on volunteers or some other organisation to control fires on your property or the land you manage.
Fire management is understanding the significance of fire intensity and what varies fire intensity. It is understanding the weather, rainfall influence, fire indices, fine fuel loads and that doubling the fuel load will increase fire intensity four times. It is understanding calculated fire danger and that the index range is really 1 to 10,000 not 1 to 100.
Fire management is understanding that relatively frequent use of low intensity fire can reduce the intensity of wildfires that occur under given climatic conditions and thereby assist fire control operations and that as a consequence the extent and impact of high intensity fires can be reduced.
Fire management is having a long-term plan that has been proven to be effective by implementation. It is having the resources and the trained staff that can respond quickly and effectively to the various situations and in the case of plantations being able to detect and attend fires up to 50 km or more away and quickly contain those fires.
Fire management is a detection system and a response plan that recognise that response times must decrease as the danger increases. It is the advanced deployment of resources.
Fire management is access and fuel reduction. In native forests it is establishing fire management blocks or areas of 500, 1000, 5000 or 10000 ha or so with access to them, through them and around them. It is fuel management on a broad area basis based on the established fire management blocks. It is hazard reduction burning every few years or so depending on location and vegetation type, utilising mild conditions to create a mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas and fuel loads and a diversity of habitats. It is not the management of fuel on narrow "strategic" strips or areas that have nil or little impact on the spread or the intensity of a fire. It is not a scorched earth policy.
Fire management in plantations is an intense road access system, maintaining breaks and low fuel protection zones of up to 500 metres depth and hazard reduction burning and/or slashing, for some species within the plantation and for all species around the plantation. It is low pruning all planted areas. It is having the resources to quickly respond to a fire and being able to apply large quantities of water/retardant while the fire is small. It is the recognition that the main hazard to a plantation is the adjoining lands, particularly the lands to the west of the plantation.
Fire management is the recognition that in Australia only man and lightning cause fires and that fire occurrence increases with population density.
Fire management is understanding the characteristics of low intensity fires. It is the understanding that Australian flora and fauna species evolved with regular burning, restricted understorey conditions and open grassy forests, woodlands and shrublands. It is understanding that grass species were a major feature of most Australian vegetation associations. It is the understanding the natural fires no longer occur and that if native flora and fauna species are to be managed then areas will have to be deliberately and regularly burnt. It is understanding that the flora species that rely on seeds for propagation, the obligate seeders, readily survive low intensity fires.
Fire management is understanding that in Australia it is the more temperate, winter rainfall areas that have the most damaging, destructive bushfire conditions. It is understanding that these destructive bushfire conditions are caused by a range of location and climatic factors but contrary to what is being stated in some quarters, increasing average temperatures is not one of them. It is understanding that areas that have higher temperatures either have higher rainfall or summer rainfall or low rainfall and produce wet vegetation or limited vegetation or in the case of tropical woodlands, savannas and grasslands vegetation that requires annual burns and is mostly burnt annually.
David Ryan
Secretary, Association of Consulting Foresters of Australia
PUBLICATIONS:
Radiata Pine Grower’s Manual by J.P. MacLaren, FRI Bulletin No. 184
This is without doubt an essential acquisition for anyone interested in the growing, harvesting and marketing of radiata pine. The manual covers a wide range of topics and is well supported with colour and monochrome photos. A sample of the 35 chapter headings provides some clue to the coverage:
- why invest in forestry?
- site selection
- genetics
- cuttings vs. seedlings
- site preparation
- fertilizer requirements
- nurseries and planting
- initial stocking
- browsing damage
- grazing opportunities
- environmental considerations
- pruning
- thinning
- rotation age
- example regimes
- common pests and diseases
- log and wood properties
- marketing
- cost and revenue schedule
The Association of Consulting Foresters of Australia is making the Radiata Pine Growers’ Manual available in Australia for $45 plus postage.
To order a copy of the Manual contact acfa@forestry.org.au
