Torching Our Forests or Managing The Fire Risks?
As regular readers of this blog will know, Lesley Dewar is helping to campaign for conservation and protection of both our high value conservation forests and their unique native inhabitants. She is passionate about helping to raise awareness of conservation issues.
This post has on purpose: to provide links to a variety of points of view and people whose opinions are highly divergent. It is easy:
- to shout down those whose views do not agree with yours;
- to deride academics or activists as ” armchair critics” when they may not have had intense physical interaction with bushfires;
- to ignore the right of everyone to express their point of view;
- to fail to support the views of others who have a credible story to tell
- to deny evidence because you do not approve or like or accept by whom it is presented;
Readers are invited to read, review and comment. The notes in italics have been added by the author or sourced as a quote from the link. The links to the You Tube videos have not been edited for the sake of appearance.
Don’t Torch The Tingles.
Uploaded to You Tube by WAforests on May 17, 2011
The last of our pre European Tingle Forest is to be firebombed next summer 2011/2012. This is the last large example of long unburnt OPEN FLOOR Tingle Forest left in the world, solely due to it being without fire for 80 years, allowing the understory to collapse and decompose creating this Park Land Forest with declining litter or fuel levels.
At the date of uploading, we had not been able to confirm whether the proposed burning had been carried out. The video offers suggestions on alternative areas to be selected for the proposed burning which may be more effective than the initially selected site.
Wildfire WA part 1 (Waterbush)
Uploaded to You Tube by WAforests on May 25, 2011
Controlled forest burning in Western Australia is making the forest more flammable and therefore more dangerous.
A very interesting video on the proliferation of vegetation which seeds well after burning.
Wildfire WA part 2 (Waterbush)
Uploaded to You Tube by WAforests on Jun 5, 2011
The WA government, under Colin Barnett, is encouraging the destruction of native forest animals by destroying their habitat.
The second video in the series, it offers alternative ideas on proposed burning actions.
Water Flower (Florabase Dept Environment and Conservation)
South West Western Australia on a budget
Uploaded to You Tube by RadioLynxContent on Dec 2, 2011
One of the worries about taking a holiday of a lifetime is that it is going to cost you the earth, but in south west Western Australia that needn’t be the case.
With strong calls by the author for more attention to eco-tourism, videos like this help promote the South West as a good tourism destination.
Bush Fire Front: The Alliance Against Bushfire Damage in WA
The Bush Fire Front is a Western Australian voluntary organisation dedicated to protecting householders, farmers and forests from the ravages of bushfires. Our focus is the southwest corner of WA, where hundreds of thousands of people, valuable property, public assets and priceless forests are threatened by wildfire.
We are practical bushfire specialists, with hundreds of years’ accumulated experience in preventing bushfire damage to people, property and forests. We are a group of West Australians deeply concerned to prevent bushfire damage to people, lives and forests. Each of us has worked in bushfire prevention, bushfire science, fire planning, administration or operations for over 35 years
http://bushfirefront.com.au/opinion/general-fire-management-issues
Quote: We need a return to the sort of fire management regime used by aboriginal people in ages past. The beautiful forests and landscapes that the first European settlers found were the product of frequent mild burning, not of massive high intensity fires which blackened the landscape over millions of hectares, which is what the current approach is doing.
South West Fire Services
South West Fire Services is a Busselton based Fire Management Consultancy. Established in 2001, we specialise in management of fire in the natural environment, with emphasis on protection of the biodiversity values, property, and life. With a combined total of over 100 years in practical fire management, we can offer practical advice based on extensive fire and land management experience
John Evans is the director of SWFS, with nearly 40 years experience with DEC in District and Regional Fire Management roles throughout the SW. Primary responsibilities included planning and managing fire management programmes, wildfire suppression operations (Level 3 Incident Controller), fire training, preparation of technical and reference material, liaising with state and local government agencies, and forest management companies etc. Specialising in Karri, Tingle and Jarrah forest fire management, but with a wide range of experience across WA, he is based in Busselton.
http://www.bushfireservices.com.au/about-us/john-evans/
DEC: Science Division Research Project:
The impact of wildfire in old growth forest of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park on short-range endemic invertebrates and their forest floor communities
This study, established in December 2001, was designed to involve and educate the local volunteers in the establishment of a long-term invertebrate collection
Profile link for Paul Van Heurck http://science.dec.wa.gov.au/people/?sid=117#profile
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Arthropods, beetle fire ecology, beta richness, Bushfire CRC, Coleoptera biodiversity, fire mosaics, ForestCheck beetles, rarefaction, structural diversity, trophic guilds, Walpole beetles, Walpole protocol, wildfire impacts
At the date of posting, the author had not been able to contact Paul Van Heurck and has not yet accessed any information on the results of the study.
Black Cockatoos Are Starving In Western Australia
Today, I met Merlin, a young red tailed cockatoo who is being nurtured as an education bird at the Kaarakin Cockatoo Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in the hills of Perth. Black Cockatoo Recovery Centre
It is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions when we wilfully allow our indigenous wildlife to be driven to starvation because of loss of habitat – drought, dieback, logging; bush fires and prescribed burning have brought our cockatoos to the brink of extinction. The competition for food in remaining habitat puts enormous pressure on those pockets of vegetation. It is critical any planned logging in the South West is immediately halted and retained as habitat areas and food sources for these iconic birds.
Within the metropolitan area, land clearing for residential areas needs to be drastically controlled so that known feeding areas for black cockatoos are preserved and integrated into landscape planning for new developments – industrial, suburban and Government infrastructure. Documenting some of the poor planning decisions being made by State and Local Councils helps the community understand how ignorance, greed and lazy public officials are putting the very existence of these incredible birds at risk. [Read more...]