Landscape Preferences, Amenity, and Bushfire Risk in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

This paper examines landscape preferences of residents in amenity-rich bushfire-prone landscapes in New South Wales, Australia. Insights are provided into vegetation preferences in areas where properties neighbor large areas of native vegetation, such as national parks, or exist within a matrix of cleared and vegetated private and public land. In such areas, managing fuel loads in the proximity of houses is likely to reduce the risk of house loss and damage. Preferences for vegetation appearance and structure were related to varying fuel loads, particularly the density of understorey vegetation and larger trees. The study adopted a qualitative visual research approach, which used ranking and photo-elicitation as part of a broader interview. A visual approach aids in focusing on outcomes of fuel management interventions, for example, by using the same photo scenes to firstly derive residents' perceptions of amenity and secondly, residents' perceptions of bushfire risk. The results are consistent with existing research on landscape preferences; residents tend to prefer relatively open woodland or forest landscapes with good visual and physical access but with elements that provoke their interest. Overall, residents' landscape preferences were found to be consistent with vegetation management that reduces bushfire risk to houses. The terms in which preferences were expressed provide scope for agency engagement with residents in order to facilitate management that meets amenity and hazard reduction goals on private land. AbstractThis paper examines landscape preferences of residents in amenity-rich bushfire-prone landscapes in New South Wales, Australia. Insights are provided into vegetation preferences in areas where properties neighbour large areas of native vegetation, such as national parks, or exist within a matrix of cleared and vegetated private and public land. In such areas, managing fuel loads in the proximity of houses is likely to reduce the risk of house loss and damage. Preferences for vegetation appearance and structure were related to varying fuel loads, particularly the density of understorey vegetation and larger trees. The study adopted a qualitative visual research approach, which used ranking and photo-elicitation as part of a broader interview. A visual approach aids in focusing on outcomes of fuels management interventions, for example, by using the same photo scenes to firstly derive residents' perceptions of amenity and secondly, residents' perceptions of bushfire risk. The results are consistent with existing research on landscape preferences; residents tend to prefer relatively open woodland or forest landscapes with good visual and physical access but with elements that provoke their interest. Overall, residents' landscape preferences were found to be consistent with vegetation management that reduces bushfire risk to houses. The terms in which preferences were expressed provide scope for agency engagement with residents in order to facilitate management that meets amenity and h...

Is there an inherent conflict in managing fire for people and conservation?

“…Community engagement with householders encourages better preparation (Penman et al 2013c) and increases the probability of structures surviving (Gibbons et al 2012). However, the degree of involvement by property owners is linked to their perceived levels of wildfire risk (Gill et al 2015;Penman et al 2016). All these strategies have the potential to work independently or interactively with the fuel treatments tested here.…”

Researching Home’s Tangible and Intangible Materialities by Photo-Elicitation

“…The RG photo-elicitation method continues being employed in social sciences in in-depth interviewing (e.g. Buckley 2014;Gill et al 2015;Nguyen, Horey, and Liamputtong 2019), particularly on sensitive matters (Pretto 2015)but also increasingly in surveys (e.g. Dzidic and Green 2012;Houssemand et al 2018).…”

Can Air Quality Management Drive Sustainable Fuels Management at the Temperate Wildland–Urban Interface?

“…Like elsewhere in southern Australia, prescribed fire is controversial in Tasmania because of smoke pollution [46], but mechanical thinning is not widely used at the WUI because of public opposition to removal of trees and associated effects on natural amenity values [47][48][49]. Another source of smoke pollution in the autumn months is slash burning in the woody debris created by logging Eucalyptus forests.…”

“…In addition to aesthetic concerns [48], a major constraint on mechanical thinning is the cost, which exceeds that of using prescribed fire, albeit this depends on any income received from harvested trees, and whether fire is used to reduce fine fuel loads [64,65]. One critical contributor to high mechanical thinning costs is the lack of market for the woody debris that cannot be used for lumber or paper production.…”