Fire and its management in central Australia

Abstract

Over the last 130 years, patterns of land use in central Australia have altered dramatically, and so too have fire regimes and fire management objectives. Although Aboriginal people still have tenure over large parts of the landscape, their lifestyles have changed. Most Aboriginal people now live in towns and settlements and, although fire management is still culturally important, the opportunities for getting out on country to burn are constrained. Large parts of the landscape are now used for pastoral production. Under this land use the management objective is often one of fire exclusion. The other large-scale land use is for conservation. Here, fire management has a greater focus on conserving biodiversity using various burning strategies. In this paper we explore contemporary fire regimes in central Australia. Widespread fire events are found to be associated with two or more consecutive years of above-average rainfall. Although most of the fires linked with these high rainfall periods occur during the warmer months, in recent times these fires have exhibited increased activity during the cooler months. There has been a concomitant increase in the number and size of these fires and in the number of fires associated with roads. We also explored current fire management issues on Aboriginal, pastoral and conservation lands. Current fire management goals are not being wholly met on any of these land tenures in central Australia and social conflict sometimes emerges as a result. There are overlaps in management aims, issues and the under-achievement of desired outcomes across the land tenures which lead us to five key recommendations for improving fire management outcomes in central Australia. We finish with some comments on associated opportunities for livelihood enhancement based on the management of fire.

Harvesting as an Alternative to Burning for Managing Spinifex Grasslands in Australia

“…The contemporary practice of patch burning in the vicinity of certain indigenous settlements buffers climate-driven variability in fire size, and the resultant mosaic of burned and unburned areas is considered vital for the integrity of spinifex grasslands [11,12]. Land managers also use fire to increase the forage value of spinifex grasslands, prevent large-scale wildfires, diminish encroachment of woody and exotic plants, and maintain biodiversity [12][13][14].…”

Aboriginal hunting buffers climate-driven fire-size variability in Australia’s spinifex grasslands

“…Others, however, suggest that climate overshadows any anthropogenic effects (18), either dampening the effect of human ignitions in wet years (19) or enhancing it in dry years, when human fires cause more area to be burnt than would "naturally" be the case (20)(21)(22). If climatic effects are so large as to swamp any anthropogenic effects on fire size, then there is little hope for management regimes aimed at mitigating the effect of climatic variability on fire size and its associated detrimental effects on endangered small-mammal populations, particularly if these patterns increase with global climate change (23).…”

Application of an integrated multidisciplinary economic welfare approach to improved wellbeing through Aboriginal caring for country

“…The resulting decrease in the mosaic of burnt/unburnt areas led to an increase in the occurrence, intensity and extent of wild fires over the drier, hotter months, and the release of biologically sequestered greenhouse gases due to the loss of woody plants (Edwards et al 2008). The increase in smoke as a result of wild fires was also accompanied by localised increases in respiratory diseases (Johnston et al 2007b).…”

“…European settlement and the dispossession of Aboriginal people from country led to changes in land management practices, the introduction of exotic species, and ecological alterations (Gale and Haworth 2005;Lunt et al 2007;Edwards et al 2008). The resulting decrease in the mosaic of burnt/unburnt areas led to an increase in the occurrence, intensity and extent of wild fires over the drier, hotter months, and the release of biologically sequestered greenhouse gases due to the loss of woody plants (Edwards et al 2008).…”

“…The use of fire normally occurred in the cooler months when it would have less impact on timber species than in the hotter months preceding the wet. These cool-weather fires led to a mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas and a complexity of plant species of varying ages (Edwards et al 2008;RussellSmith et al 2009). …”