Thread: Bushfires
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Old 01-04-2002, 04:28 AM   #5
Memnoch
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Join Date: February 28, 2001
Location: Boston/Sydney
Posts: 11,771
quote:
Originally posted by SookmaCook:

As far as I can see though, there is one thing we CAN be glad about (luckily), I just remebered that most of the native trees in these forests are fire- regenrative, meaning that fire HELPS them... and it will get rid of alot of the weeds too...
So the main problems are ofcourse Loss of Property, and Loss of our native fauna .



I'm glad you mentioned that. Fire is actually a very important part of the Australian environment - it's a question of when and how much. Much of the reason why these bushfires are so destructive now is because backburning hadn't been done effectively in the last few years.

Fire has a major influence on the Australian environment and has shaped many of the plant communities we have here today. It's been an important part of Aboriginal life for thousands of years - being used for cooking, to make hunting easier, to attract animals, to protect foods such as yams and to "clean the country" before the hot dry weather comes.

Here's a cool poem that was said by Bill Neidjie of the Bunitj clan, one of the Aboriginal traditional owners of Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.


This earth, I never damage.
I look after. Fire is nothing, just clean up.
When you burn, new grass coming up.
That means good animal soon,
might be goanna, possum, wallaby.
Burn him off, new grass coming up, new life all over.


I learned all of the below while I was in the Northern Territory earlier this year. Fascinating stuff and amazing that the Aborigines knew it thousands of years ago, but we're only learning it now (in the last twenty years or so).

Fires lit by Bininj/Mungguy (Aboriginal clans) as they travelled to different parts of the country created a patchwork of burnt and unburnt areas. These fires were lit between Yegge and Wurrgeng seasons (May-Jul) when the weather was still fairly cool and humid. With the arrival of non-Aboriginal people, the Bininj/Mungguy population decreased. Many people died of disease, others moved off their land to towns and settlements. With fewer people on the land, less burning was carried out, so hot, late dry season wildfires became more common. These hot fires were often large and destructive, changing the distribution of plants and animals.

Since the 1980s, Bininj/Mungguy and park managers have worked together to reduce the number of hot fires at the end of the dry season.

Most burning takes place in the early dry season (May to July) when conditions are relatively cool. These fires are generally of low intensity, and of little risk to humans and most animals. Damp areas, left over from the wet season (Jan-Apr) help to break up fires and create a patchwork pattern of burnt and unburnt areas.


Like I said, amazing what the old fellas knew way back then. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]
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