bushfire

Enhancing Biodiversity: Fire

Enhancing Biodiversity: Fire

We tend to think of fire as a predominantly destructive force—mesmerising and often beautiful to watch, but ultimately a threat to our livelihoods, property and even our lives. On my own farm, I have been deeply wary of using fire deliberately because of fear of it getting out of control. I used it to burn off gorse (before I learned the error of my ways) and even with professionals to help with control, found it a nerve-wracking experience. I’ve also had two bushfires start accidentally, one from lightning and one from a careless cigarette tossed out along the highway.

Watching the recovery from those three fires, though, taught me there is a benefit in the renewal of plants and diversity following the fire’s devastation, and those ideas have slowly (very slowly) led me to the study of Indigenous cultural burning.

A Sunburnt Country

A Sunburnt Country

Although I am not at all superstitious, in the two months since I began writing about runoff and flooding, we’ve had four significant recharge events and the landscape is decidedly soggy for the first time in about five years! So, I’m wary of the possible consequences of writing about bushfire risk at this juncture, especially given the likelihood of high fuel loads after all this lovely rain.