Cultural burning an important part of land management, says Landcare, Vic Opposition
Aboriginal cultural burning practices are being backed by Landcare Groups and the Victorian Opposition as a way of managing farmland. Here’s why.
LANDCARE Groups and the Victorian Opposition are embracing aboriginal cultural burning as a means of reviving bushland and curbing fuel loads on private and public land.
Christmas Hills Landcare Group chairman Doug Evans said the concept of landholders taking on responsibility for conducting cultural burns on their properties might sound frightening, but once people understood the practice the fear subsides.
He said the Landcare group had worked with Wurundjeri Elder Uncle David Wandin and Indigenous Queensland fire practitioner Victor Steffensen, who helped co-ordinate four burns on three properties.
“As a Landcare group we recognised fire is a management tool to keep the bush healthy, not just for fuel reduction,” Mr Evans said.
“A key part (of cultural burning) is making sure there’s enough moisture in the soil to keep the fire cool, so it just burns the leaf litter and grass thatch. The flame is no more than 30cm high.”
“These burns will knock out the smaller shrubs and push them back into the gullies, where they belong. Lack of fire means they keep spreading.”
Ultimately Mr Evans said cultural burns boosted grass growth, while protecting the tree canopy.
As for advice to others he said landholders and Landcare Groups should offer Indigenous practitioners the chance to conduct cultural burns, but warned them not to underestimate the work and detail involved.
Giving Indigenous groups the chance to prove the value of cultural burns was also at the heart of the Victorian Coalition’s Return of the Firestick policy, under which they have promised to fund the training of 40 Indigenous fire practitioners.
Opposition Shadow public land use spokeswoman Melina Bath said, if elected, a Coalition Government would use $28 million to allow these fire practitioners to prove the worth of their work in major parks across the state.
“The devastating impact of last summer’s bushfires highlighted the need to better manage our landscape and undertake more targeted fuel reduction burns,” Ms Bath said.
“The Andrews Labor Government’s lock and leave approach isn’t working, in fact it’s exposing communities to an even higher risk of bushfire.
“Through an expansion in Indigenous burning we can implement forest management practices more in tune with the natural systems and processes of the Australian landscape, while simultaneously protecting communities.”
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