Managing fire

Fire is a natural part of the Australian landscape, and many vegetation communities depend on being burnt occasionally to remain healthy. Healthy habitats support healthy populations of animals.

We prepare a fire management plan for all our reserves. Typically, firebreaks are burnt around buildings and other infrastructure on the reserves to keep life and property safe. Firebreaks are also used to help protect vegetation communities that would be badly affected by fire. Conversely, patterns of burning are established for those vegetation communities that depend on fire. On the larger properties we try to mimic a more natural frequency of fire by creating a mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas that, together with firebreaks on the reserve boundaries, minimise the risk of broad-scale wildfire.

How the land responds

If burning is skilfully carried out in the correct season it reinvigorates ageing vegetation communities, encourages flowering and seeding and provides a flush of new green shoots and highly nutritious small herbs for grazing wildlife.

By strategically choosing, and then burning, small areas of bush across a reserve, we build complexity into the vegetation over successive seasons. After some years this creates patches of bush at different stages of regeneration that can provide the resources animals need, no matter what the season.