Fire has shaped the evolution of Australia’s landscapes and native species over millions of years.
There’s great diversity in the frequency and severity of fires across Australia. Influences include both human intervention and natural factors such as changes in vegetation patterns and fluctuations in weather and climate.
Our Fire Management Program includes staff training, site-specific fire management and response plans, assessing and managing fuel loads, creating fire breaks, managing access tracks and coordinating with neighbours.
This preparation helps us respond to and control summer bushfires, helping reduce their intensity and safeguarding ecological, cultural and structural assets.
Improving our processes based on lessons learned is a key focus.
Aboriginal people have managed fire regimes for thousands of years and continue to manage large parts of Australia through the careful use of fire.
Strict cultural protocols around lighting fires were once common and today many of our partnerships with Aboriginal groups still maintain these protocols through the role of elders in determining where and when controlled burns are used.
Historically fire was an important tool to maintain plant and animal species that people relied on for survival. Parts of the North Kimberley (where we have a partnership with Wunambal Gaambera) are among the only places in Australia to record no small mammal extinctions. Here plant and animal communities still rely on small, low-severity fires burnt under Aboriginal stewardship.
One of the best tools to combat bushfires is fire itself. Quite literally, fighting fire with fire.
In addition to natural fire regimes there are many contemporary threats including arson, climate change, land clearing and land degradation (primarily from agriculture).
Invasive grasses such as Buffel (Cenchrus ciliaris) and Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus) significantly increase the bushfire risk across large areas.
There’s no ‘one-size fits all’ approach to fire management. Every landscape is unique, and so is the potential impact of bushfire.
Our reserve staff and science team individually assess every property. We combine the latest satellite technology with the knowledge of partners on the ground (including neighbours and Traditional Owners) to map key conservation targets and threats.
The tropical savannas are some of the most naturally fire-prone landscapes in the world. The annual ‘dry season’ leaves the landscape tinder dry at the hottest time of the year and lightning regularly starts bushfires.
We have partnerships with Aboriginal groups across Arnhem Land, the North Kimberley and Cape York, where the careful use of prescribed burns is the most important tool for conserving biodiversity and cultural sites.
Our Yourka and Carnavon reserves are under threat most years from lightning strikes.
In Southern Australia fire frequencies have been lower but in denser forests and woodlands can be much more intense. The combustibility of vegetation is influenced by climatic conditions such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the Indian Ocean Dipole and the Southern Annular mode. Above-average rainfalls that promote growth and increase fuel loads can be followed by extended hot, dry conditions.
At our reserves in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and in southern Western Australia we’ve been implementing ecological burns to help areas recover from land clearing, to maintain vegetation structure and diversity and to reduce fuel loads. We’re reviewing our options as global warming intensifies the challenges.
In the arid zone fire frequency and severity is directly related to above-average rainfalls that can lead to prolific growth in grass and vegetation. Our Ethabuka and Pilungah reserves, on the edge of the Simpson Desert in Queensland, experienced large rainfall events in 2016 and 2017. We responded to reduce the risk of bushfire through strategic prescribed burns over relatively small areas.
We also have the Birriliburu partnership in the Little Sandy and Gibson Deserts of WA, where we work closely with senior Martu Traditional Owners and rangers to plan and implement prescribed burns.
The difference between proactive, controlled burns and uncontrolled bushfires is stark. It’s often the difference between life and death for native species.
Controlled burns are carried out in cooler conditions, often after recent rainfall, to create slow-moving, low-severity fires in carefully selected areas with appropriate vegetation communities.
On our reserves we work closely with our ecologists and the latest research to recreate a mosaic pattern of fire histories, which supports biodiversity and fire-sensitive plant and animal species. These controlled burns in cool conditions can reduce fuel build-up and help control weeds.
Bushfires often start in hot, dry, windy weather and can quickly reach into tree canopies, destroying nesting hollows and food sources, killing small mammals and devastating ecosystems.
We also create strategic fire breaks that help control prescribed burns and can restrict the spread and movement of large bushfires.
The impact of bushfires can be confronting. Millions of animals perish, and the ones that survive are left without crucial cover and susceptible to predators – especially cats.
Bushfires have no respect for property borders and can burn out cattle stations and agricultural land, impacting pastoral livelihoods as well.
We work together with neighbours and local stakeholders to ensure that together we’re protecting the landscape. With approval from the local fire authorities, we conduct controlled burns on reserves with strict supervision by reserve managers, and the support and on-ground assistance (where required) of relevant park or fire agencies.
When burning is skilfully carried out it can reinvigorate ageing vegetation communities, encourage flowering and seeding and provide a flush of new green shoots and nutritious small herbs for grazing wildlife.
By strategically burning small areas 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.
BLOG 10/03/2023
We had several Bush Heritage representatives at the annual Savanna Fire Forum on Larrakia country last month. After two years of online events, savannah fire management experts from across the country were glad to meet face-to-face this year.
Read MoreBLOG 08/02/2023
A recent wildfire on Yourka Reserve has revealed the benefits of best practice controlled burning in tropical north Queensland.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 17/10/2022
Led by truwana Rangers, cool burning at Friendly Beaches Reserve plans to create the healthiest possible habitat for the vulnerable New Holland Mouse.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 14/06/2022
How aerial, controlled burning is utilising climatic conditions at Yourka Reserve on Jirrbal and Warrungu country in Queensland.
Read MoreBLOG 21/02/2022
The 2021/22 La Nina has brought significant rainfall to the eastern seaboard of Australia, while the west has seen below average conditions. Here are some weather highlights from the first few months.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 07/10/2021
After 10 years of the Healthy Country Plan, Wunambal Gaambera country is thriving, with right-way fire lighting the way.
Read MoreBLOG 27/04/2021
On Bunuba country in the Kimberley, essential winthali (fire) work is being undertaken to prepare the land for the dry season.
Read MoreBLOG 07/01/2021
On Monday 28 December a fire, caused by a lightning strike from a recent thunderstorm, started on a neighbouring property to the west of Naree Station Reserve on Budjiti country in north western New South Wales. Thankfully, it was quickly contained.
Read More04/12/2020
A year on from the 2019 bushfire season, how Bush Heritage Australia and WIRES are working collaboratively to help secure the future of all native species.
Read MoreBLOG 22/07/2020
Set between the harsh, arid desert uplands and escarpment of the Aramac range and the fertile black soil plains to the south, Edgbaston Reserve is a truly unique and diverse area. Last week Bush Heritage staff began its program of fire management activities on Edgbaston for the first time since purchase of this property.
Read MoreBLOG 14/07/2020
In February this year about 73% (1006ha) of Scottsdale Reserve burnt in the Clear Range bushfire. Around 84% of its native grasslands were affected and more than 50% of the reserve’s woodlands burnt at such a high intensity that the native seed bank was destroyed.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 12/06/2020
Fire can be as harmful as it is essential in the Kimberley of Western Australia. Maintaining that fine balance is at the heart of the Bunuba Rangers’ fire program, bringing right-way winthali back to country.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 12/06/2020
The Mimal Rangers of central Arnhem Land are looking after country the right way, preventing damaging wildfires and reducing emissions, with a fire-spreading raptor at their side.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 12/06/2020
Silver linings shine as Bush Heritage’s Yourka Reserve in far north Queensland regenerates following a significant bushfire last year.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 13/04/2020
Two months after the North Black Range Fire swept across Bush Heritage’s Burrin Burrin Reserve in NSW, ecologist Dr Matt Appleby assesses the damage and recovery rate.
Read MoreBLOG 28/02/2020
It's been a very busy few weeks here at Bush Heritage. I have been out to our bushfire affected reserves in New South Wales to survey the impact alongside our Senior Leadership team, local reserve staff and ecologists.
Read MoreBLOG 07/02/2020
On Saturday 1 February, the Orroral (Namadgi) and Clear Range fires swept over the Murrumbidgee River and onto the western half of our Scottsdale Reserve. This has been a tense and challenging time and we are eternally grateful for the heroic efforts of the RFS and the extraordinary people on the ground fighting for our beloved Scottsdale. Importantly, our people remain safe and our community strong.
Read MoreBLOG 03/02/2020
As we know from this unrelenting bushfire season, a lot can change in the space of a weekend. When I wrote to you on Friday with an update, we were hopeful that our Scottsdale Reserve, located between Canberra and Cooma, would remain unscathed. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the NSW Rural Fire Service and our on-ground staff (themselves with personal property under threat), a large proportion of Scottsdale has been, and continues to be, impacted by bushfire. As you can imagine, it’s been a tense and challenging time.
Read MoreBLOG 31/01/2020
As we enter a new month, I would like to take a moment to update you on recent developments towards our post-bushfire recovery. The devastation wrought has been confronting. My heart remains with those affected, those still fighting fires and those on the ground beginning the long process of recovery.
Read MoreBLOG 06/01/2020
I wanted to personally update Bush Heritage supporters on the fire threat and impact to our reserves. At the end of 2019, our on ground staff and neighbours fought fires of varying severity on six Bush Heritage reserves in three states.
Read MoreBLOG 17/12/2019
Some thoughts on the Australian fire crisis and an update on Bush Heritage's fire control efforts by Richard Geddes, Bush Heritage Australia's National Fire Program Manager
Read MoreBLOG 04/06/2019
We Bunuba people have been looking after our country for thousands of years. As part of our job, this year we did a large-scale burning project on Leopold Downs Station, which is a Bunuba-owned property.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 22/03/2019
Using Western technologies and traditional knowledge to keep country healthy and a millenia-old tradition alive.
Read MoreBLOG 14/12/2018
We've been testing the use of burn lines as a way to draw cats towards our new Felixer cat traps at Ethabuka Reserve. The results so far are super encouraging.
Read MoreBLOG 10/05/2018
Recently I had the pleasure of being part of the annual fire management work undertaken by the Bunuba Rangers and Traditional Landowners on Leopold Downs Station (Yarrangi) in the Kimberley.
Read MoreBLOG 30/04/2018
I was recently at Beaufront, a stunning property owned by farmer and private conservationist Julian von Bibra in the Tasmanian Midlands, working alongside University of Tasmania on an innovative new fire experiment that we hope will give us some insights into the effects of fire and grazing on vegetation composition and structure.
Read MoreBLOG 23/01/2018
Many of you may have read an article in a recent Good Weekend magazine, debating the merits of conducting prescribed burning in Northern Australia. As Bush Heritage's National Fire Program Manager, with over a decade working in fire management and conservation in that region, I wanted to respond to some of the inaccuracies of this report.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 07/12/2017
There are more than 6000 patches of rainforest on Wunambal Gaambera country, for which fire can be both protector and destroyer.
Read MoreBLOG 27/10/2016
Bunuba Rangers attended the recent Kimberley mega wildfire, which has burnt over 1.5 million ha of remote county across the indigenous protected areas (IPAs) and pastoral properties in the western Kimberley.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
Out on Bon Bon Station Reserve, the heat can sear your skin and leave you breathless. And yet this massive piece of land, which rivals the size of Sydney, is home to some of Australia’s most extraordinary creatures like the southern hairy-nosed wombat and the rare chestnut breasted whiteface. Here's how we manage wildfire risk for Bon Bon’s diverse plants and animals.
Read More
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