![]() This has threatened biodiversity as well as increased greenhouse gas emissions," says Dr Garry Cook from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). "Since European settlement, fires in the north have increased in size and severity. The devastating 2015 Christmas bush fire at the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, triggered also by lightning, was only able to destroy a third of homes in Wye River and "entire streets" because "this country has not burnt, had a fire in it, in decades," as Craig Lapsley, Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner admitted. Lightning strikes ignited large, hot fires late in the dry season, between August and December, when there was plenty of fuel. Fire management stopped with severe consequences for the land. It means healing Country and when you heal Country, you heal people.Īfter World War II, missions towns and cattle stations lured Aboriginal people away from their homelands with promises of work and education. Aboriginal control of preparation and implementation is essential. ![]() hunting, access to fish traps, ceremony grounds). They protect Aboriginal sites and clear access to country for cultural uses (e.g. It is applied more frequently than hazard reduction burning and is very labour intensive.Ĭultural burns are used for cultural purposes and not not simply for asset protection. You can tell if a fire was a cool burn when the burnt grass still has its previous shape.Ĭultural burning is tightly connected to caring for country. Introduced species, for example grasses, are not fire-resistant and can be removed with fire instead of chemicals. The fire extinguishes straight after it burns the grass (“self-extinguishing fire”). ![]() It's a "tool for gardening the environment". The heat, which is much cooler than a hazard reduction burn, doesn't ignite the oil in a tree’s bark. Young trees can survive and the fire keeps grass seeds intact for regrowth. Animals, including beetles and ant colonies, have enough time to escape. These low-intensity fires are also known as cultural burning. Traditional fire management applies cool and quick burns. Bhiamie Eckford-Williamson, Euahlayi man and ANU researcher Aboriginal fire managementįire management is part of how Aboriginal people look after country. Whilst popularly known as traditional burning, cool burning, Indigenous burning, etc., the practice is actually cultural land management. It also holds great spiritual meaning, with many stories, memories and dance being passed down around the fire.īut when out-of-control bush fires burn Aboriginal land, they are "also burning up our memories, our sacred places, all the things which make us who we are," says Yuin woman Lorena Allam, because " lose forever what connects you to a place in the landscape". Traditionally it was used as a practical tool in hunting, cooking, warmth and managing the landscape. Meaning of fireįire is an important symbol in Aboriginal culture. 30cmĭepth to which a hot fire could bake the soil and destroy seeds and nutrients. Savannah covers about one quarter of Australia. Percentage of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions caused by methane and nitrous oxide emissions from savannah burning ("hot fires"). 10 Factor by which introduced weeds can increase fuel loads. Selected statistics 500,000 Tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions avoided in 12 months by letting Aboriginal people manage burns. ![]()
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