Plans to allow cows to graze on fuel loads in NSW national parks
After decades of lobbying by farmers, the NSW Government will explore allowing cattle in national parks as part of bushfire mitigation measure. The move has the backing Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall, but not everyone in government is in favour.
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Farmers would be allowed to graze cows in national parks to reduce ground fuel should research show it is an effective way to avoid the high intensity of last summer’s bushfires.
In a move set to trigger a showdown with conservationists, the State government has included the highly controversial proposal in its submission to the upcoming Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.
The bushfires submission notes how farmers are already allowed to graze cows on Crown lands.
Another 360,000 hectares is also open to cattle in State Forests with Forestry Corp incorporating it as a “fuel management tool” on its land because hazard reduction burns could kill or damage the regrowth of white cypress and river red gums.
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However, parks will not immediately be opened to livestock, with the government specifying that “targeted research “ into the effectiveness of grazing as a fire hazard reduction tool would have to occur first before it would be considered as part of its bushfire mitigation regime.
The State government submission said the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) already permitted grazing in a few of its parks.
“NPWS uses targeted grazing as a conservation tool in a small number of national parks, as it is considered an appropriate means of manipulating habitat for threatened species,” the submission said.
“NSW supports targeted research into the effectiveness of grazing in national parks as a fire hazard reduction tool using existing areas as the study areas.”
Cattle grazing has long been a bone of contention between the Nationals and the Liberals, with the Coalition again split on the issue after it resurfaced during the summer bushfires.
With nationals parks legally created to preserve native flora and fauna species, authorities have resisted called to allow livestock grazing, which is regarded as having similar environmental impacts as feral deer and horses.
Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall has been leading the push for grazing to be permitted to help manage fuel loads — a move that has to date been resisted by Environment Minister Matt Kean.
The NSW Farmers Association made grazing in parks a 2011 State election issue, with the lobby group arguing livestock would remove the “huge tonnage” of grass, leaves and weeds that contributed to fire intensity.
A decade earlier, the late Alby Schultz, a former Liberal MP, suggested drought-stricken farmers could save their livestock by allowing grazing in parks, declaring Kosciuszko National Park alone could support up to 50,000 head of cattle.
Grazing was allowed in the Riverina and Murray regions as part of a “trial” in 2012 by farmers with existing permits given extensions.
Last month, a study led by The Australian National University (ANU) found that large animals such as “cows, kangaroos and rhinos” could reduce the size and spread of grassland fires.
While the State government is under pressure to dramatically reduce fuel loads in national parks, experts warn that it will not necessarily stop the large “mega-fires” that ripped through the tree canopies.
NSW Farmers Association president James Jackson said the fires of last summer showed that the existing bushfire mitigation methods being used were “not working”.
“We are not rabidly saying open the national parks for huge numbers of livestock as they’ll save the place from fires, but we do believe that livestock can be a part of the mix in some circumstances,” he said.
“There is no doubt that the structure of public lands and the management of them were a contributor to the catastrophic nature of these fires.
“If you manage fuel loads better, you then have a bigger window to do those cool burns. “What is happening now is clearly not working.”
The Commission will deliver a final report by the end of August 2020.
Originally published as Plans to allow cows to graze on fuel loads in NSW national parks