Parks Victoria’s draft land management strategy has been strongly criticised by the Howitt Society for completely ignoring the biggest threat to Victoria’s native forests – massive wildfires. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz
The society, in its submission to the review of the draft strategy, said prevention of large, high-intensity bushfires was the fundamental requirement for land management in the bushfire-prone forests.
“Unless this is done, no other management or conservation objective can be successfully achieved,” said Howitt secretary Garry Squires.
“Landscape-level management of bushfire fuels is the cornerstone to minimising the damage resulting from large, high-intensity bushfires, and is the key element in an effective bush management system and in minimising the ecological impacts of fire.”
The draft land management plan, approved by the Parks Victoria board in August and released for public comment, aims to protect the state’s natural and cultural heritage for future generations.
It will cover Parks Victoria’s public land estate of 4.1 million hectares, including more than 3000 land and marine parks and reserves that make up 18 per cent of Victoria’s area and 70 per cent of its coastline. More than half of the state’s native forest is in various parks and reserves.
The Howitt Society is a group of experienced land and fire managers, scientists, foresters, anthropologists, historians, past and current stakeholders. Its work is inspired by the work of 19th Century Gippsland scientist Alfred Howitt, who was an anthropologist, botanist, ecologist, geologist and explorer. He advocated a holistic science where Aboriginal burning sustained landscapes, ecosystems and human society through millenia.
Mr Squires said fire was a part of the natural environment in Australia. Lightning was the major source of fire with multiple fires burning across the landscape over a large part of the year.
“Lightning-caused fires were complemented by management fires lit by Aboriginal communities and in more recent times by settlers,” he said. “In the Victorian context, Aboriginal and settler burning has stopped and government fire policy is to control all non-planned fires such as lightning strikes.
In the absence of these two sources of ‘natural fire’, land managers have recognised the need to manage fuel loads in forested areas by planned controlled burning to minimise the risks from intense wildfire and for the ecological health of the forests.”
Mr Squires said the draft strategy recognised that wildfires like the devastating 2019-20 bushfires threatened Victoria’s parks. It mentioned the “unprecedented impacts on the forested landscapes”, and the destruction of plants and animals such that parts of the environment “may not fully recover”.
The Parks Victoria Act 2018, he said, also stipulated the protection, conservation and enhancement of the land’s natural and cultural values.
“Given this recognition of the impacts of large-scale bushfires and given the requirements under the Parks Act … it is difficult to see how mitigation works to mitigate the impact of fire on a range of park values is not a key part of this draft land management strategy,” Mr Squires said.
“Park management (through government policies) requires that natural fire in the parks be controlled, so to maintain healthy ecosystems, as close as natural as possible, it is incumbent on park managers to replace natural fire with controlled fire through a proactive strategy.”
Mr Squires said the draft strategy continually emphasised that climate change made the fires worse but did not have a clear focus on how to manage the fires. “To not do so is to be an observer rather than a land manager,” he said.
“Climate change is not actually the threat as it impacts on fire. Climate change is simply one factor influencing the fire intensity because of its effect on temperature and fuel dryness.”
Mr Squires said the draft strategy mentioned managing risk and preparing for fire threats but did not set out how to do that.
“While an extensive fuel management program will not stop fire occurring, it will reduce fuel loads and reduce the intensity of those fires which cannot be controlled,” he said.
Minimising damage required sound preparedness and fuel hazard mitigation programs. “Any bushfire strategy that focuses only on suppression and recovery, and which ignores preparedness and damage mitigation, will ultimately result in major ecological impacts.”
Mr Squires said clear policy direction to manage fuels would enable controlled burns to be incorporated into Parks Victoria’s Joint Fuel Management plan process.
Submissions on the draft strategy closed on November 1 and will be considered when preparing the final strategy. Parks Victoria will make a progress report every three years on the strategy, which will be reviewed at least every ten years.
