The Noisy Scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus)

The Noisy Scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus)

An interesting letter from a former employee of the Department of Conservation and Land Management in WA (now Department of Parks and Wildlife).
His story concerns a fire in the nature reserve at Mount Manypeaks, located about thirty kilometres east of Albany on the WA south coast. This is considered one of the State’s most important reserves, being home to the Noisy Scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus), one of our most endangered species. The Noisy Scrub-bird (NSB) was for many years considered extinct, but then a small remnant population was located at Two People’s Bay nature reserve in the 1960s. From here, birds have been successfully translocated to several suitable locations, including Mt Manypeaks, and this in time became the principal population of the species. Since they were originally rediscovered within bushland that had been long-unburnt, wildlife scientists concluded that the bird (which is ground-dwelling) would only survive if fire was permanently excluded from its habitat.
Fire exclusion thus became the policy for all reserves in which the noisy scrub-bird occurred.

Barry Aitchison OAM – Well Deserved

Barry Aitchison OAM – Well Deserved

Barry Aitchison was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the general division as recognition for his service to the community of the Monaro.
Barry is well known and a highly respected former Fire Control Officer, Operations Officer and Firefighter who represented the Snowy River, Bombala and Cooma Monaro Fire Districts for well over 30 years.
Those who know Barry will be very pleased that this OAM has been awarded to most deserving bushman with a passion for the locals, the bush and its’ future.

Australian Bushfire Management – wisdom versus folly

This post includes the paper by Roger Underwood titled “Australian Bushfire Management: a case study in wisdom versus folly”.

The choices before us are straight-forward:

Do we (Australians) want our bushfire and land management planning done by professionals with front-line experience, or by campus intellectuals and ideologists?

Is it smarter to manage bushfire fuels by burning them at times of our own choosing when conditions are mild, or to stand back, do nothing and risk being engulfed by fire at the worst possible time?

If fires are inevitable, which is preferable:

A controlled or a feral fire?

And do we see humans as part of the ecosystem and plan accordingly, or do we see them as interlopers, as illegal immigrants in the Australian bush?

Do we opt for Wisdom or for Folly?

A Burning Issue for the PM

A Burning Issue for the PM

The lightning strike that initiated the Lorne evacuation was a routine event.

Such fires once were extinguished by teams of local fire fighters. Victoria’s former Chief Forest Fire Officer Rod Incoll recently detailed how the job was done when he worked in the Otways adjacent to Lorne and the destroyed township of Wye River.

Back in the day, Rod’s crews would “hold” the fire with a rigorous first attack enlisting backup from other forest districts and bulldozers.

They would expect to control the fire within two or three days, and they would do so on a relatively small budget when compared with the avalanche of money that builds and expands bureaucratic empires while simultaneously, and perversely, worsening bushfire danger.

Fire Power – Landline ABC

Fire Power – Landline ABC

Although the Australian continent is shaped by fire and flood, large-scale devastating bushfires are a man-made modern phenomenon. That’s the view of distinguished historian Bill Gammage, who argues that Australians have failed to understand their environment. His views may be contentious, but his book has won the nation’s top literary prizes and continues to win new and influential supporters.

Bill Gammage contends that to confront the future, we must learn from the past. Specifically, and crucially, we need to heed the ancient knowledge and practices of Indigenous Australians.

Academia’s Flaming Nincompoops

I have come to despair over the bushfire situation in Australia. It has gone from bad to worse over the last 25 years, with our bushfire authorities increasingly opting to reject “the Australian Approach” (built upon pre-emptive fuel reduction) in favour of “the American Approach” (using expensive technology to fight fires after they start). In adopting this futile approach, bushfire authorities have aligned themselves with the green academics who oppose fuel reduction. The result is more and worse bushfire damage to the detriment of Australians and our environment, including its biodiversity.

Victoria bushfires stoked by green vote

The following article was written for The Australian newspaper back in 2009.

The author, David Packham, a bushfire scientist for more than 50 years, said that “it has been a difficult lesson for me to accept that despite the severe damage to our forests and even a fatal fire in our nation’s capital, the political decision has been to do nothing that will change the extreme threat to which our forests and rural lands are exposed”.

Seven year later and nothing has changed… Is anyone listening…

Great Ocean Road bushfire bill to exceed $100m

Great Ocean Road bushfire bill to exceed $100m

Stories like this one in the Australian are becoming way too frequent when the solution is low cost by comparison. These costs extend way beyond the public purse, there is a massive cost to our environment, local business and economy. A rethink of our hazard reduction targets is long overdue.

In reference to the article (The Australian – Dec 28, 2015) one of our readers said “Give the Volunteers back full control and get back to realistic hazard reduction targets. If a politician stepped up and made that decision, we’ll save lives, homes, our wildlife and heaps of money that could be better spent on hospital, infrastructure, the drug problem… the list goes on…”

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