Losing the World's Heritage

Home , 2016 Tasmanian bushfires, Olegas Truchanas, Sticht Range, Tyndall Range

Losing the world’s heritage – ancient life forms at risk

Burnt forest, including rainforest, in canyon, Devils Gullet, Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, February 2016. Rob Blakers.

Submission to the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee on the Tasmanian wilderness bushfires

April 2016

The Wilderness Society and Greenpeace acknowledge the traditional Aboriginal owners of all Country in Tasmania and pay respect to elders past and present and the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community. We support efforts to progress reconciliation, land justice and equality. We 1 recognise and welcome actions that seek to better identify, present, protect and conserve Aboriginal cultural heritage, irrespective of where it is located. Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Inquiry into the response to, and lessons learnt from, recent bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness

The fires are extremely destructive for two main reasons. First, the fires are threatening vegetation that is unique to Tasmania, including iconic alpine species such as the Pencil Pine and cushion plants, as well as temperate rainforests. Second, the fires are burning up large areas of organic soils upon which the unique Tasmanian vegetation depends. It is extremely unlikely burnt areas with the endemic alpine flora will ever fully recover given the slow growth of these species and the increased risk of subsequent fires given the change to more flammable vegetation and the slow accumulation of peat soils, which takes thousands of years. Past fires have resulted in a permanent switch from the unique Tasmanian alpine vegetation to more fire-tolerant vegetation.

David Bowman, Professor of Environmental Change Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, 29 January 2016 (Bowman 2016)

The Wilderness Society (TWS) and Greenpeace Asia Pacific (GPAP) welcomes the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee inquiry into the 2016 Tasmanian bushfires and offer this submission as a contribution to deliberations, reporting and recommendations.

We request the opportunity to appear before the Committee to further explain our observations, analysis and recommendations.

This submission is made with respectful recognition of the dangerous and challenging nature of fighting all wildfires, let alone remote area fires. It recognises the professionalism and dedication of fire-fighting staff and volunteers and offers thanks for the efforts expended in the 2016 Tasmanian campaign. It does however raise questions regarding Tasmania’s preparedness in the face of climate change, its willingness to ask for external assistance, prioritisation of fire-fighting effort in certain circumstances and the proposed articulation of fire response policy in statutory management frameworks. It asks these questions in the spirit of a constructive contribution within a process of continual improvement, with the view to identifying opportunities to learn from the events of 2016, to augment and develop current fire-fighting capacity, strategy, policy and funding, particularly for remote area fire-fighting.

All observations, analysis and recommendations in this submission are made against the backdrop of an escalating global emergency driven by human-induced climate change. In this context, this submission and its recommendations are made within an overarching call for greater government action to combat climate change.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

1. Summary In January and February 2016, a spate of fires burnt out of control in Tasmania. At the height of this ‘unprecedented’ crisis, over 80 fires were uncontained, more than 20 of them inside the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA). Others burnt in places of outstanding natural and cultural heritage value that the Wilderness Society has long proposed as formal conservation reserves, including as extensions to the TWWHA. The fires were caused by hundreds of lightning strikes across western Tasmania that ignited natural vegetation enduring the driest conditions on record. Respected local scientists described the event as the direct result of climate change because of the extraordinarily dry conditions and the intensity of the dry-lightning storm.

The fires burnt terrain whose natural and cultural attributes constitute part of the Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA. Of particular concern was a complex of fires immediately north (up-wind) of the heart of Tasmania’s alpine country, a spectacular glaciated landscape of jagged peaks, lakes, plateaux and ancient vegetation. The world’s biggest stands of pencil- pine trees were under threat of permanent damage for over two weeks. Pencil pines are members of the genus Athrotaxis, a life form with a lineage of over 150 million years, limited range restricted to Tasmania’s alpine country and no evidence of regeneration after fire.

Fortunately, a period of cooler and wetter weather occurred, subduing the fires that were causing the most serious threat to Outstanding Universal Value. The efforts of Tasmanian fire-fighting agencies – augmented by over 1200 personnel from other states and New Zealand over the course of two months – were also a major factor in containing the fires. In retrospect, it appears that the TWWHA was extremely lucky that hot, windy, northerly conditions (common in January and February in Tasmania) did not occur, that resources were not required to tackle fires in major population centres, and that no major fire emergencies were occurring on the Australian mainland at this time.

The incident has raised several issues of concern to the management of the TWWHA. These include:  The state of preparation of fire agencies, given that a bad fire season had been predicted;  The response time of the Tasmanian Government in calling for resources from outside the state;  The future of ancient fire-sensitive life-forms within the TWWHA given that this event is part of a clear trend towards more dry lightning strikes and hot, dry summers;  The resourcing of Tasmanian fire-fighting agencies by the Tasmanian Government, which has been criticised by the fire-fighters’ union for budget cuts and restructuring;  The level of remote-area fire-fighting and coordination expertise, both within the Tasmanian Fire Service and at the federal level;  The inadequacy of public communication about the crisis (particularly wuith regard to natural values) on the part of the Tasmanian Government; 3

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016  The inadequacy of the draft new Management Plan for the TWWHA in recognising the need for rapid-response capabilities and prioritising the protection of fire-sensitive vegetation over built infrastructure (as provided for in the current (1999) Management Plan.

TWS and GPAP recommend the following actions by the Australian Government:

 The Australian Government should recognise the role of climate change in exacerbating the threat to the Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA as bushfire seasons lengthen and intensify;  The Australian Government should state the seriousness of the fire threat to the Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee and its advisory bodies (the IUCN and ICOMOS) and report on the issue of wildfires in all future State of Conservation reports;  The Australian government should recognise the catastrophic threat to key Outstanding Universal Values of the Tasmanian Wilderness posed by wild fires and ensure it is articulated in all relevant UNESCO reports, management plans and fire plans;  The Australian Government should oversee the review of the Management Plan for the TWWHA to ensure wildfires and their threats to Outstanding Universal Value are adequately addressed, including by retaining and expanding the capacity for rapid response to tackle remote-area fires, by ensuring that the protection of fire- sensitive vegetation is a higher priority than protecting infrastructure within the World Heritage Area, and by improving remote-area detection of fires by utilising the best available technology;  The Australian Government should offer adequate and immediate financial backing for the suppression of the uncontrolled fires that threaten the TWWHA and other irreplaceable environmental and cultural attributes (such as the takayna/Tarkine rainforest, Tyndall Range and Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape);  The Australian Government should provide adequate funding to the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, through the Tasmanian Government, to: o properly resource all aspects of management of the TWWHA; o bolster remote area fire-fighting capacity; o restore its education program about fire (including campfires) for outdoor recreationalists using the TWWHA;  The Australian Government should provide coordination and financial support to enable the Tasmanian Government to develop and implement a long-term bushfire response plan designed to protect Outstanding Universal Value and other environmental and cultural attributes in the TWWHA and across Tasmania;  The Australian Government should provide financial resources for additional research (including by the CSIRO) into the relationship between climate change, bushfires and ecology in Australia;

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016  The Australian Government should bolster its efforts to research, model and tackle climate change.

TWS and GPAP recommend the following actions by the Tasmanian Government:

 The TFS website should list the resourcing efforts of all three fire-fighting agencies;  A liaison officer should be appointed with the responsibility of proactively communicating with environment groups and other stakeholders (such as Aboriginal groups) about fires of particular concern to heritage values;  The government should provide briefings to the public via the media (through the PWS and relevant minister) when fires again threaten areas with vulnerable natural and cultural heritage;  The Tasmanian Government should restore and increase resources for Tasmania’s fire-fighting agencies, with a focus on building remote area fire-fighting and coordination capacity;  The Tasmanian Government should ensure relevant agencies consult stakeholders regarding fuel reduction burn and ensure all fuel reduction burns in remote areas be underpinned by sound ecological principles;  In its review of the Management Plan for the TWWHA, the Tasmanian Government should ensure wildfires and their threats to Outstanding Universal Value are adequately addressed, including by retaining and expanding the capacity for a rapid response to tackle remote-area fires, by ensuring that the protection of fire-sensitive vegetation is a higher priority than protecting infrastructure within the World Heritage Area, and by improving remote-area detection of fires by utilising the best available technology;  The Tasmanian Government’s research project into ‘the impact of climate change on the wilderness’ should consult with environment and Aboriginal stakeholders prior to the finalisation of its terms of reference and continue as the project progresses. This project should examine the impact of fire on karst;  The Tasmanian Government should resource the Aboriginal community to carry out an assessment of the potential impacts on Aboriginal heritage values, across all fire grounds;  The Tasmanian Government should recognise that public debate over fire policy, planning and response is legitimate, important and necessary and avoid politicising the debate through personal attacks and traditional wedge tactics.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 2. The lead-up to the 2016 fire season A serious wild-fire threat to the Tasmanian Wilderness in the 2016 fire season had been foreseen by conservation groups and the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS). Significant landscape-scale bushfires had been ignited by lightning in the area in recent years, and the state faced extraordinarily dry conditions after record low rainfall in spring (September-November) 2015.

Massive fires in the Tasmanian Wilderness occurred in 2007 (over 38,000 ha) and 2013 (over 40,000 ha). These were ignited by lightning. The 2013 fire burnt out of control for weeks with little or no suppression attempts due to a range of issues, including the severity of fires in other parts of Tasmania, such as Dunalley. These fires, for the most part, did not threaten significant areas of ancient, fire-sensitive vegetation, but did damage organic soils and some small areas of rainforest and alpine flora.

The Parks and Wildlife Service identified a trend in which the amount of land area burnt as a result of lightning strikes had increased dramatically in Tasmania since 2000. This is illustrated by the graph and map below.

TWWHA Lightning fires 45,000

40,000

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

Area Area Burnt (ha) 15,000

10,000

5,000

19981999 19911992 19921993 19931994 19941995 19951996 19961997 19971998 19992000 20002001 20012002 20022003 20032004 20042005 20052006 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010 20102011 20112012 20122013 19901991 (Pyrke 2013)

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Source: Fire history records of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmanian Government

Government bodies also presented rainfall information showing that large parts of western Tasmania had experienced the lowest spring rainfall on record. That trend continued through early summer (December 2015 and January 2016).

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

In November 2015, the Wilderness Society presented this information to the UNESCO Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tasmania, warning that there was a severe immediate threat to ancient vegetation of Outstanding Universal Value within the Tasmanian Wilderness, and that the draft management plan had significant inadequacies and contradictions regarding fire.

At this time, the Tasmanian Government itself warned that the combination of dry lightning strikes and hotter, drier conditions posed a serious threat to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage property. In a prophetic document published in November 2015, only two months before the crisis occurred, the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, said:

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Risk of landscape-scale fires continues The three very large lightning fires, two in 2007 and the one in 2013, are an ominous sign of the bushfire threat. While PWS has successfully suppressed numerous lightning fires in the past decade, the weather conditions that led to the three large fires are likely to remain a challenge in the future: dry lightning followed quickly by a sustained period of severe fire weather.

The risk of landscape-scale fires continues to threaten TWWHA natural values, particularly fire-sensitive vegetation. There is a pressing need for PWS to continue to develop strategies to mitigate these risks.

Although a view may be put that lightning fires are natural and therefore the impact of these fires should be considered natural, PWS does not support this view for the following reasons. Firstly, these lightning fires may not be entirely natural if human-induced climate change is a contributing factor. Climate research and trends over the next few decades will assist in resolving this question. Secondly, there is a legacy of destruction and loss of fire-sensitive vegetation and organic soils in the TWWHA since European settlement. The fire regime during this period was not natural and differed from the Aboriginal fire regime. In the current era, any source of ignition must be considered in the above context. It is not desirable to lose any more fire-sensitive vegetation to bushfires, regardless of the source of ignition.

The lightning fires of the last 10 years have burnt only a very small percentage of the total extent of fire-sensitive vegetation in the TWWHA. Typically these fires burn buttongrass and stop at boundaries with forest because the latter is usually damper and therefore less flammable than buttongrass. It is known, however, that on rare occasions in summer, bushfires in Tasmania will burn all vegetation types at a landscape scale including rainforest. The last occasion documented was the Savage River fire in 1982. Therefore, every summer there is a risk that even the fire-sensitive forests will become sufficiently dry to burn. So while the impact of lightning fires on TWWHA’s natural values over the past 10 years has so far been relatively benign, this may be just a matter of good luck. (Parks and Wildlife Service 2015)

The Tasmanian Government should therefore have been on heightened alert for a break-out of remote-area bushfires caused by lightning strikes in the TWWHA and other remote regions in January and February 2016.

Note that both of the above phenomena – record dry conditions and increased prevalence of dry lightning strikes – are consistent with predicted effects of climate change.

The above description of the lead-up to the fires is therefore relevant to the Inquiry’s term of reference: (a) the impact of global warming on fire frequency and magnitude. 9

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

3. Immediate impacts of bushfires On 13 January 2016, a series of dry lightning strikes ignited over 20 fires within the TWWHA. This included parts of the Southwest, Walls of Jerusalem, Franklin – Gordon Wild Rivers, and Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair national parks. The heartland of Tasmania’s alpine country, including the Ducane Range, Mt Anne and Walls of Jerusalem, occurred in the direct paths of fires that burnt out of control for weeks. The threat from these fires to critical Outstanding Universal Values was, given likely extreme fire weather conditions in the weeks to follow, severe and the consequences potentially catastrophic.

Lightning strikes near Devils Gullet (part of the TWWHA) -5.41pm, 13 January 2016. It is likely one of these strikes ignited a blaze that morphed into the Lake Mackenzie fire complex that burnt fire-sensitive vegetation inside the TWWHA. Danny Wilkinson

Simultaneously, more than 30 other fires burnt in adjacent areas with high natural values, such as the takayna/Tarkine in the state’s north-west. In early April, some of these fires were still burning, albeit ‘under control’ (Tasmanian Fire Service 2016). Fires in other parts of Tasmania brought the total to over 70.

Rain at the end of January and again in late February subdued most of the fires of critical concern to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage property. Determined efforts by Tasmania’s fire-fighting agencies, with massive assistance from fire-fighters across the rest of Australia and logistical support from the Australian Military, reduced both the spread and intensity of the fires. With the fire season over, a final assessment of impacts can be made.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Critical statistics are as follows:

Land category Approximate area burnt Jan-Feb 2016 Tasmanian land area 123,800 ha Reserved lands 79,463 ha World Heritage property 24,000 ha (1.5% of property) Athrotaxis vegetation 150 ha (0.3% of Athrotaxis vegetation) Sphagnum peatland 80 ha Other threatened vegetation-types 2470 ha (Parks and Wildlife Service 2016a)

In brief, the wildfires caused the following damage to natural attributes:  Probable permanent destruction of approximately 150 ha of pencil pines and King Billy pines (Athrotaxis sp.) in the northern part of the TWWHA;  Serious damage to other high-altitude landscapes and ecosystems;  Long-term damage to rainforest species and eucalypts in the Devils Gullet area.

The intensity of so many fires in so many sensitive locations may have damaged Aboriginal cultural heritage in the form of middens, petroglyphs and stone scatters. In particular, fires that burnt to Tasmania’s west coast may have impacted on hut depressions and shell middens within the Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape, listed on Australia’s Register of National Heritage (Department of the Environment 2013). This is an area proposed as an extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (The Wilderness Society 2015). In addition, fires burning in the Maxwell River area, within the World Heritage property, may have impacted on caves which contributed to the listing of the TWWHA as World Heritage for its cultural values.

Concerns about the impacts of these very intense fires on Aboriginal heritage have been expressed by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community (O'Conner 2016). A proper assessment of such impacts should be carried out.

Note that the above impacts relate to land pertinent to Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention, so are relevant to the following terms of reference of the Inquiry: (d) Australia’s obligations as State Party to the World Heritage Convention; (f) any related matter.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 4. Outstanding universal values destroyed or threatened – ancient lifeforms and karst systems

Pristine pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) and deciduous beech (Nothofagus gunnii) in the TWWHA. Rob Blakers.

The wildfires threatened some of Tasmania’s most important stands of highland vegetation, including ancient conifers, deciduous beech, cushion plants, and the organic soils that sustain them. These life-forms, unique to Tasmania, are known as palaeoendemics because of their ancient lineage, some of them dating back to the Cretaceous. The Athrotaxis genus, which includes king billy and pencil pines, is believed to be over 150 million years old (Jordan G.J. et al. 2015). These long-lived, statuesque trees occur amongst pristine streams and lakes in glaciated mountains, forming landscapes of great beauty. Their Outstanding Universal Value was recognised with the listing of the TWWHA in 1982 and its extensions in 1989 and 2013. However, unlike many other parts of Australia, these ecosystems are not fire-adapted – if burnt by intense fires, they will not recover. The palaeoendemic species will be replaced by more fire-adapted species. According to the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service:

These fire-sensitive vegetation communities can take hundreds or even thousands of years to recover following a bushfire. Fire-sensitive vegetation communities in the TWWHA include rainforest, native conifers, and alpine vegetation with sensitive species including pencil pines, Huon pines, King Billy pines, myrtle-beech, deciduous beech, and sphagnum. (Pyrke 2013)

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 In Tasmania, there are approximately 53,000 ha of Athrotaxis-dominated vegetation, 41,000 ha of which occurs within the TWWHA. Approximately 150 ha (0.3%) of this were burnt. However, the threat to this vegetation at the height of the fires crisis was far more significant than these figures indicate, as attested by the likes of Professors Bowman and Kirkpatrick.

The fires in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area could turn scientific and tourist icons like the Walls of Jerusalem into ugly, charred landscapes with little heritage value. We have the chance to supress the fires now if enough resources are put into it before severe fire weather occurs. My decades of research on Tasmania’s alpine and rainforest regions and their responses to fire have shown that it is not just a matter of replanting trees. How do you replace the burnt organic soil? How do you replace individual native pines that were thousands of years old? The need is for a massive effort now, to put out fires in places like Lake Bill. We need to dedicate some of our resources during severe fire weather to the protection of our heritage. (Kirkpatrick 2016)

Destruction of Athrotaxis through the 2016 fire event has already been documented in the Central Plateau Conservation Area (part of the TWWHA). Relevant photos by long-term professional wilderness photographer Rob Blakers are included as part of this report (Appendix 1).

Another cluster of fires posed a threat to stands of lowland rainforest, including Huon pine, in the catchment of the Gordon River (part of the TWWHA). Huon pine is another long-lived Tasmanian endemic (some more than 3000 years old), one of the world’s most significant tree-species for dendrochronology, and a recognised attribute of Outstanding Universal Value. The fires concerned occurred near the Denison River, the stronghold of virgin stands of Huon pine. They were tabulated on the TFS website under the names Maxwell River, Maxwell River (south), Nicholls Range, Dohertys Range, Princess Range, Norway Range, Diamond Lake and Punt Hill.

The TFS website indicated that most of these fires remained small. However, on 9 February 2016, the Maxwell River (south) fire expanded dramatically from 85 ha to 720 ha, eventually being listed as over 1600 ha (a figure later reduced to 1258 ha). This fire posed a threat to what used to be called the Olegas Truchanas Huon Pine Reserve, probably the state’s most intact stand of riverine Huon pine.

This raises the question of whether the above cluster of fires should have been tackled by remote-area fire-fighting teams much earlier, when they were still very small.

The fires located on the Central Plateau, including the Mackenzie complex also threatened or impacted on other natural values recognised as contributing to Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA, including karst. Important karst areas around the Great Western Tiers area were added to the TWWHA in the 2013 extension. Fire has the serious potential to impact on karst values through changes to soil structure, hydrology, sedimentation trends and other factors, some possibly yet to be realised.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Research should be conducted into the short, medium and long term impacts of fires on the geomorphology, hydrology and ecology of karst.

An ancient pencil pine burnt by wild fire in the Tasmanian Wilderness, January 2016. Rob Blakers

Other uncontrolled fires burnt to the west of the TWWHA, in the takayna/Tarkine, in wilderness areas south of Macquarie Harbour, and in the foothills of the Tyndall Range. These threatened additional tracts of rainforest and highland conifers and beech outside the World Heritage property. These places have been proposed by the Wilderness Society as extensions to the TWWHA (The Wilderness Society 2015).

Of particular concern were the fires around the Tyndall Range (tabulated by the TFS as Tyndall Reserve, Anthony Highway and Sticht Range). It was difficult to obtain information about these fires. In early February, the status of the Anthony Highway fire was dramatically changed – it went from ‘patrol’ to ‘going’, and its mapped location was ‘moved’ from the shore of Lake Plimsoll to the north slopes of the Tyndall Range. At least three phone calls to the PWS office on 7 February went to the answering machine and were not returned.

The biggest fires in the state occurred in the takayna/Tarkine. These were listed as the huge Mawbanna (62,023 ha) and Wuthering Heights Road fires (22,290 ha). The former was the result of the merging of several fires, including the Sumac and Dempster Plains fires. Other Tarkine fires were tabulated by the TFS under the names Mt Bertha, Blackwate River, Coldstream, Donaldson, Hangmans Creek, Heazlewood, Horton, Huskisson, Julius, Keith, 14

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Lyons, Montagu, Mt Bell, Pieman Road, Pipeline and Savage River. Together, these fires posed a massive threat to Australia’s biggest tract of cool-temperate rainforest, in and around the valley of the Savage River. Given that large tracts of rainforest in this area were incinerated by the infamous Savage River fire of 1982 (Parks and Wildlife Service 2015), the threat to the natural values of the takayna/Tarkine rainforest in January and February 2016 was immense. There was little, if any, acknowledgment of this by either the state or federal government.

Together with the concerted efforts of fire-fighters, rain at the end of January and in late February greatly reduced fire activity across most of the fires of immediate concern. By April, even the massive takayna/Tarkine fires were listed as ‘under control’. However, given the intractable nature of fires in peat, only sustained, drenching rain will completely extinguish all of the fires – this may not occur until late winter.

The efforts of firefighters played a significant role in eventually controlling the fires. However, had fire conditions in late January and February worsened with the hot, dry, strong northerly winds typical of that season, nothing would have stopped the island’s most beautiful and ancient stands of alpine vegetation and rainforest from being incinerated.

The following map shows a large complex of fires in difficult terrain immediately north of critical stands of Athrotaxis vegetation within the TWWHA. Note that there are significant areas within the red ‘fire boundary’ area that have not burnt due to the patchy nature of the fire. However, the map (obtained from the Tasmanian Government website in February 2016) gives an accurate picture of the active fire fronts at the height of the crisis. Northerly and north-westerly winds are associated with the most severe fire weather in Tasmania. The map therefore shows just how close the epi-centre of Tasmania’s alpine landscapes came to being incinerated.

This is deeply relevant to the Inquiry’s terms of reference (a) and (d):

(a) the impact of global warming on fire frequency and magnitude; (d) Australia’s obligations as State Party to the World Heritage Convention;

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

This map shows the proximity of fires to vulnerable Athrotaxis vegetation within the TWWHA. Cradle Mountain, the Walls of Jerusalem and the Ducane Range are some of Tasmania’s most famous landscapes. Note that not all land within the red fire-boundaries was burnt. (Tasmanian Government 2016) 16

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 5. Government responses to the 2016 fire emergency

Request for external assistance

Out of a total of over 40 fires, at least 11 fires in the TWWHA had been reported by 15 January 2016. At least seven more within the TWWHA out of a total of more than 60 were reported by 19 January. On 21 January, the Tasmanian Government issued a media release saying that assistance had been sought from other parts of Australia and that ‘further requests may include specialist planners and remote area fire fighters’ (Hodgman and Hidding 2016).

Later on 21 January, the Tasmanian Government did request the provision of specialist remote-area fire-fighters from fire-fighting agencies from other parts of the country, particularly Victoria and New South Wales. In other words, the request for specialist help to fight fires in wilderness areas was not made until eight days after the ignitions, and six days after government agencies knew that there were many fires in dispersed, remote terrain. The actual deployment of these interstate fire-fighters did not occur until nearly two weeks after the ignitions.

Meanwhile, one of the fires (the ‘Lake Mackenzie fire’) had roared up on to the Central Plateau, burning alpine vegetation including cushion plants and pencil pines, and threatening to burn further south into some of the state’s best stands of pencil pine.

TWS and GPAP therefore questions whether the Tasmanian Government responded sufficiently rapidly to the fires, given the number and intensity of known fires during the first week after the ignitions, given the likelihood of many other fires as yet undetected, given the significant high fire-danger weather period still ahead (at least 6 weeks), and given the clear threats to Outstanding Universal Value and other heritage.

Tasmania’s three fire-fighting agencies (Tasmanian Fire Service, Forestry Tasmania, and the Parks and Wildlife Service) and their volunteers fought these blazes with great determination. However, in the first two weeks of the battle, they were stretched to breaking point by the size, distribution, unpredictability and sheer number of these fires. Seasoned fire-fighters commented on the dryness of the vegetation in western Tasmania and the difficulty in controlling these fires. In addition to defending natural heritage areas, these agencies fought fires in settled areas, saving farms, towns, shacks, houses and people from an outbreak that the Tasmanian government described as ‘unprecedented’ (ABC News 2016c).

The scale of these operations across all land-tenures (including the World Heritage Area) was immense. Tasmanian authorities deployed over 2200 local fire-fighters (Hidding 2016a), including over 200 staff from the Parks and Wildlife Service. Over 30 helicopters were in use. According to the NSW Fire Service, 1293 fire-fighters from outside Tasmania (including New Zealand) were eventually deployed within Tasmania between late January and mid- March. From 13 January to 29 February 2016, more than 80 fires burnt over 123,800 ha of 17

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Tasmania’s land area – 79,463 ha of it in reserved lands such as the World Heritage Area, most of it native vegetation (Parks and Wildlife Service 2016b).

During this period, the Australian Government was urged to provide emergency back-up to the Tasmanian Government, including financial resources and fire-fighting infrastructure, in letters sent from 24 January (Law 2016). It is believed that over 500 such letters were received by the Australian Government. Two weeks after the fires commenced, Australia’s Minister for the Environment (the Minister responsible for World Heritage properties) said that he had activated national response mechanisms to assist the fire-fighting effort (Hunt 2016). The Minister also expressed his concern for the TWWHA, describing the situation as ‘deeply serious’ (Richards 2016).

Communication

Meanwhile, conservationists were anxiously scanning the TFS website, seeking information about the progress of fire-fighting efforts in key parts of the Mersey cluster of fires, such as the February Plains and Lake Bill. Day after day, the website indicated that no efforts were being made to contain these fires, which posed potentially catastrophic threats to Athrotaxis and other alpine vegetation in the Walls of Jerusalem and near the Overland Track. Examples are given below:

Screenshot of 23 January 2016 from TFS website indicating no fire-fighting resources at Lake Bill other than ‘regular patrols’. This is just one example of a string of such postings.

At a briefing by PWS initiated by the Tasmanian Greens on 28 January, the Wilderness Society learned that the Lake Bill fire had been fought during this period with teams of remote-area firefighters ‘and five choppers every day for the last two weeks’. It was explained that the TFS website did not ‘talk’ to other agencies, and so did not present a

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 complete picture of fire-fighting efforts. TWS and GPAP found this to be an extraordinary breakdown in communications with the public.

This situation is exacerbated by inconsistency. The TFS website frequently did list the fire- fighting efforts of PWS, as shown by the example of the fire at Mt Cullen and the Gordon River Road:

Screenshot from TFS website showing PWS resources deployed to the Gordon River Road Mount Cullen fire, 24 January 2016.

Despite the inadequacies and inconsistencies of the TFS website, ministerial officers urged those seeking up-to-date, detailed information about the fires to consult the TFS and PWS websites:

The most up to date information on the fires themselves is available on the TFS website and PWS is also updating its information daily – so keep an eye on those sources – they are your best way to get updated information each day. Government officer to staff of Cassy O’Connor, 27 January 2016

The confidence of the Tasmanian Government in the quality of information on these websites was clearly misplaced. Fortunately, after the meeting of 28 January, PWS addressed the information gap by providing regular and detailed updates to the Greens and, through them to others.

The TFS website is only one example of inadequate government communication at the height of the crisis. After the fire entered the alpine zone on the Central Plateau (19 January), inside the World Heritage Area, public anxiety about the future of ancient flora mounted. Yet there appeared to be no acknowledgment of the crisis or threat to natural values until conservationists publicly raised their fears on the ABC news some five days later (interview 19

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 with Geoff Law, 23 January). There were no public briefings by those with the most authoritative information – the Parks and Wildlife Service. Government responses to public concerns about World Heritage attributes were defensive, hostile and at times sought to provoke political division.

On 23 January, senior government representative and local member MHA Adam Brookes called on the Greens to ‘distance themselves’ from the ‘hypocritical’ comments of Geoff Law. This showed a desire to play politics with the issue, rather than address the crisis.

In later public statements, the state government sought to downplay the seriousness of the threat to World Heritage attributes by saying that the fires had burnt less than 2% of the World Heritage Area (Morton 2016; O'Conner 2016). The use of such figures demonstrated a wilful misunderstanding of the crisis. The issue being debated was not fire within the World Heritage Area per se (fire is part of the ecology of many types of vegetation within the property). The issue was the threat to ancient, fire-sensitive and irreplaceable vegetation such as Athrotaxis. The Tasmanian Government never seemed to understand, or at least acknowledge this point.

Debate about fire is legitimate and concerns over the impacts of climate change and threats to natural values in the TWWHA and Government response were articulated in a respectful manner by advocates, scientists and other representatives (eg. TWS Media Release 22 January 2016 - Appendix 4). This contrasts the Government response, at times seeking seeking political advantage from the discussion. A fire emergency and debate about the direct threat to one of Tasmanian’s most valuable natural assets should not be use as a vehicle for traditional political battles and a proxy for the divisive ‘us vs them’ framing typical of anti- conservation rhetoric.

A TFS liaison officer with the task of communicating with stakeholders such as environment groups would have assisted greatly in reducing misunderstandings created by the above problems with public communication. We have subsequently learnt that such a liaison process was in place; however the Wilderness Society was not on its communications list. Even after raising these issues publicly, it was not approached for briefings or proactively added to distribution lists.

Military assistance

In early February, there were conflicting reports about whether the TFS had refused a federal offer of support from the military (Baines 2016). The Minister for Emergency Management, Rene Hidding, said ‘Defence fight wars, not fires’ (Hidding 2016b). In any case, by mid- February, the military was providing logistical support to fire-fighting efforts by, for example, helping to establish a camp accommodating over 250 personnel (ABC News 2016b). Ultimately, the military provided massive logistical support to fire-fighting operations (Gibson 2016). It was therefore clear by the end of the emergency that the 20

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Australian Defence Force has a legitimate, practical and possibly essential role to play in tackling emergencies of the scale of the Tasmanian bushfires of 2016.

This begs the question as to whether these is some kind of ‘cultural hump’ that must be overcome before a call for serious external assistance, including military assistance, is made.

More major resources from interstate were deployed during February. Three large water- bombing aircraft (two C130 and a C10) on loan to NSW from North America carried out a single mission over the Tarkine (Mawbanna) fires, dropping tens of thousands of litres of water and fire retardant before returning to the mainland. It is not clear why just the one bombing run was performed, how effective it was and why the aeroplanes returned to their base so soon.

Prioritisation of fire-fighting efforts

TWS and GPAP are extremely grateful to the Tasmanian fire-fighting agencies, their staff and volunteers, and the interstate personnel who battled the fires. However, there is one known incident amongst the many tactical responses over this two-month period that gives us cause for concern.

At the height of the crisis, while ancient pencil pines on the Central Plateau were burning, government fire-fighters reportedly ‘put in a considerable amount of work’ to protect some huts in the area (ABC News 2016a). Photographs subsequently taken by Rob Blakers show a replica hut part way through construction, around which a protective ‘back burn’ was carried out by fire-fighters. It appears that the back burn destroyed live pencil pines. This appears to be a disturbing case of easily replaced, partially-built infrastructure with zero heritage value being prioritised over ancient fire-sensitive trees that are part of the Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA. If so, it is a violation of the Management Plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness (see section 7) and a deeply concerning example of misguided priorities, misdirected resources and lack of appreciation of what values constitute World Heritage and require protection efforts.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Unburnt hut under construction; foreground is area burnt by protective ‘back burn’ by fire agencies. Rob Blakers

The Tasmanian Government says it has put in place measures to assess the damage and to identify priorities for rehabilitation, particularly for the Lake Mackenzie and north-west fire complexes (Parks and Wildlife Service 2016b). It has also allocated $250,000 to a ‘research project’ to ‘examine the impact of climate change on the wilderness, and strengthen our fire- fighting techniques in our Wilderness areas’ (Hodgman 2016).

It is recommended that this project look into the impact of both climate change and the fire impacts it caused on that natural and cultural values of the TWWHA and other wild areas such as the takayna/Tarkine. This research should include reporting on the impact of fire on Tasmanian karst.

Consultation with environment and Aboriginal stakeholders should precede the finalisation of the Terms of Reference of this research project and be continued as the project progresses.

The above chapter is of relevance to the Inquiry’s terms of reference: (b) the availability and provisions of financial, human and mechanical resources; (d) Australia’s obligations as State Party to the World Heritage Convention.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 6. The longer-term threat Experts in ecology believe the exceptional dryness of western Tasmania and the new phenomenon of dry lightning ignitions are the result of climate change. Professor David Bowman says:

The current fire season is shaping up to be truly extraordinary because of the sheer number of fires set by lightning, their duration, and erratic and destructive behaviour that has surprised many seasoned fire fighters. The root cause of the (fires) has been the record- breaking dry spring and the largely rain-free and consistently warm summer, which has left fuels and peat soils bone dry.

There are two ways to think about the recent fire situation in Tasmania. We can focus on the extreme climate conditions and unusual fire behaviour, or we can see what is happening as entirely predictable and consistent with climate change. I have formed the latter view because the current fires are part of a global pattern of increasing destructive fires driven by extreme fire weather.

A critical feature of the current Tasmanian fires is the role of lightning storms – climate is not only creating the precursor weather conditions for the fires, it is also providing the storms that ignite them. (Bowman 2016)

Such widespread, simultaneous outbreaks of uncontrolled fires in remote, difficult country are therefore likely to become a frequent feature of Tasmanian summers. This threat to Outstanding Universal Value will become a permanent one. Governments should therefore respond by providing increased financial resources for research, policy-making and coordination capacity pertaining to bushfires; for more permanent staff in key fire-fighting agencies and management authorities; and for increased capacity for remote-area and rapid- response fire-fighting. However, on many of these long-term issues, governments are going backwards.

The Australian Government is in the process of making severe and controversial cuts to the atmosphere and ocean division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s primary government research body. These cuts have been strongly criticised by over 3000 scientists from more than 60 countries (Hannam 2016) and are likely to have a negative impact on the ability of Australia to successfully model bushfire behaviour under likely climate-change scenarios.

In Tasmania, the union representing fire-fighters has criticised budget cuts and restructuring that have adversely affected the state’s fire-fighting capacities (Smith 2015). The union told a Parliamentary Inquiry:

It became apparent to the (union) that budgetary and structure decisions were being made without due diligence as to the requirements of the Fire Service Act 1979, the necessary preservation of the management of the resourcing and funding for the fire service being retained by the State Fire Commission (SFC) for the protection of the community, and the implications these decisions would have on the front-line of the TFS. (United Firefighters Union Of Australia Tasmania Branch 2016) 23

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

The Tasmanian Fire Service itself has reportedly described the current budgetary situation as ‘unsustainable” (Billings 2016).

TWS and GPAP support the United Firefighters Union in its bid to restore and increase resources for Tasmania’s fire-fighting agencies. Not to do so in the face of expert predictions of more severe and extended fire seasons would be remarkable in its negligence.

The above information is of deep relevance to the Inquiry’s term of reference (a):

(a) the impact of global warming on fire frequency and magnitude;

7. Wildfires and the Management Plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area The current management plan for the TWWHA (1999), recognises the danger of wildfire to sensitive vegetation and has prescribed necessary actions:

Fire suppression: Wildfire suppression is to be given priority over all other management activities…

Fire suppression: - first priority will always be the protection of human life - second priority will be the protection of rare and threatened fire-sensitive species and communities - third priority will be the protection of substantial and valuable infrastructure (p.108)

Preparedness: Maintain a rapid response capability in cooperation with other agencies. (p.109) (Parks and Wildlife Service 1999) (Emphases added)

These provisions are highly appropriate.

However, the Tasmanian Government has recently removed these provisions from its proposed new management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness (DPIPWE 2014). The government has not explained the reason for this deletion and there seems no logical reason why such provisions shouldn’t be articulated in the statutory management framework for the TWWHA. TWS and GPAP are deeply disturbed by this deletion. It appears to be another expression of the Tasmanian Government’s hostility to proper protection of the natural environment – a culture that has also been expressed in its moves to allow logging in the TWWHA (2015), and its support for rescinding part of the property (2014).

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 The revised Management Plan must retain and expand the capabilities for rapid-response, remote area fire-fighting to protect vulnerable World Heritage attributes. That capability must apply across the state so that other vulnerable flora – such as the Tarkine rainforests – can be protected. It would be a win-win situation for conservation benefiting all Tasmanians, as rapid responses can be carried out for all forms of fire, whether in wilderness areas or other landscapes, including the urban fringe and rural properties.

The above information is of major relevance to the Inquiry’s term of reference (d):

(d) Australia’s obligations as State Party to the World Heritage Convention.

8. Fuel Reduction burning Experts and expert bodies, including the PWS, support a program of planned burns within the TWWHA and other reserves. While TWS and GPAP support this approach in principle, as a measure to ameliorate the risks of intense landscape-scale fires and maintain natural values and processes, it must be underpinned by sound ecological principles and should involve Aboriginal experts.

TWS and GPAP do not support an arbitrary target-based approach to burning, where, in the name of fuel reduction, a set percentage of land is prescribed to be burned each year, irrespective of ecological impacts and a range of annual variables.

It must be recognised that all managed burns carry the risk of escape and undesirable outcomes. There are examples of ancient flora such as King Billy pine being burnt by escaped fuel-reduction burns, such as at Lake Rhona in 1982. All managed burning programs must be backed by proper planning and resourcing. More stakeholder involvement and transparency are required at the planning and, where possible, the operational level.

9. Questions, conclusions and recommendations In January and February 2016, wildfires posed the greatest threat for several decades to some of Tasmania’s most outstanding and irreplaceable natural features. If late January downpours had not occurred, and if typical February fire conditions had prevailed, some of Tasmania’s most beautiful and famous mountain landscapes would have been destroyed. Places that faced this fate included Cradle Mountain, the Walls of Jerusalem, the Overland Track, the Ducane Range, the Mountains of Jupiter, Mt Anne and the Mt Field National Park. Many people have subsequently said that Tasmania’s ancient alpine life forms have ‘dodged a bullet’, expressing hope that we learn from the experience and use it as a catalyst to prepare for the inevitable advent of future, potentially worse, fire events.

Tasmania’s fire-fighting agencies – the Tasmanian Fire Service, the Parks and Wildlife Service and Forestry Tasmania – played a key role in averting this catastrophe. However, questions must be asked about preparedness, the performance of the Tasmanian Government

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 in responding to the crisis and the apparent delays in calling for the assistance that eventually arrived.

TWS and GPAP question why it took the Tasmanian Government so long (eight days) to call on interstate remote-area fire-fighting teams when the need for such assistance should have been apparent after only two days (Friday 15 January 2016).

It appears that, in the week following the lightning ignitions on 13 January, few of the remote-area fires were tackled. While it is acknowledged that it can take some days for fires ignited in lightening to become visible, and a range of weather conditions may prevent suppression efforts, we believe more could have been done sooner. This was the period when most of those fires were most susceptible to fire-fighting efforts.

As time wore on, many of these fires became large and intractable. By mid-February, hundreds of locals, interstate and overseas firefighters, 30 helicopters, the Australian Defence Force, and large water-bombing aircraft were being deployed in immense logistical and fire- fighting exercises. It should be asked whether more concerted efforts in the first two weeks could have addressed some of the fires, obviating the need for such large-scale efforts towards the end of the crisis.

The public communications of the Tasmanian Government regarding the threat to (and destruction of) vulnerable rainforests and ancient life-forms in Tasmania’s wilderness areas were often inadequate, frequently defensive, and sometimes hostile to people with legitimate concerns. Communications by the Tasmanian Government about fires in places of outstanding natural and cultural value would benefit from the following measures:  The TFS website should endeavour to list the efforts of three fire-fighting agencies for particular fires;  A liaison officer should be appointed with the responsibility of proactively communicating with environment groups and other stakeholders (such as Aboriginal groups) about fires of particular concern to natural and cultural heritage;  The government should provide briefings to the public via the media (together with the PWS) when fires again threaten areas with vulnerable natural and cultural heritage.

In addition, the Tasmanian Government should restore and increase resources for Tasmania’s fire-fighting agencies.

As signatory to the World Heritage Convention, the Australian Government is therefore the ‘State’ party and carries the overriding responsibility for all Australian World Heritage properties and for implementing Article Four of the Convention:

Each State Party to this Convention recognizes that the duty of ensuring the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural 26

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 and natural heritage referred to in Articles 1 and 2 and situated on its territory, belongs primarily to that State. It will do all it can to this end, to the utmost of its own resources and, where appropriate, with any international assistance and co-operation, in particular, financial, artistic, scientific and technical, which it may be able to obtain. (Emphasis added) (UNESCO 1972)

The TWWHA, and wild landscapes more broadly, faces catastrophic threats to Outstanding Universal Value from future wildfires, particularly on a planet where natural systems are disrupted by damaging climate change. The 2016 fires should be seen as a ‘wake- up call’ to the threats posed to some of Tasmania’s most valuable and irreplaceable natural assets. To respond to these current and long-term threats of catastrophic damage to key mountain landscapes, ancient flora and cultural heritage, Governments should take a range of actions.

TWS and GPAP recommend the following actions by the Australian Government:

 The Australian Government should recognise the role of climate change in exacerbating the threat to the Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA as bushfire seasons lengthen and intensify;  The Australian Government should state the seriousness of the fire threat to the Outstanding Universal Value of the TWWHA to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee and its advisory bodies (the IUCN and ICOMOS) and report on the issue of wildfires in all future State of Conservation reports;  The Australian governments should recognise the catastrophic threat to key Outstanding Universal Values of the Tasmanian Wilderness posed by wild fires and ensure it is articulated in all relevant UNESCO reports, management plans and fire plans;  The Australian Government should oversee the review of the Management Plan for the TWWHA to ensure wildfires and their threats to Outstanding Universal Value are adequately addressed, including by retaining and expanding the capacity for a rapid response to tackle remote-area fires, by ensuring that the protection of fire- sensitive vegetation is a higher priority than protecting infrastructure within the World Heritage Area, and by improving remote-area detection of fires by utilising the best available technology;  The Australian Government should offer adequate and immediate financial backing for the suppression of the uncontrolled fires that threaten the TWWHA and other irreplaceable environmental and cultural attributes (such as the takayna/Tarkine rainforest, Tyndall Range and Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape);  The Australian Government should provide adequate funding to the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, through the Tasmanian Government, to: o adequately resource all aspects of management of the TWWHA; o bolster remote area fire-fighting capacity; o restore its education program about fire (including campfires) for outdoor recreationalists using the TWWHA; 27

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016  The Australian Government should provide coordination and financial support to enable the Tasmanian Government to develop and implement a long-term bushfire response plan designed to protect Outstanding Universal Value and other environmental and cultural attributes in the TWWHA and across Tasmania;  The Australian Government should provide financial resources for additional research (including by the CSIRO) into the relationship between climate change, bushfires and ecology in Australia;  The Australian Government should bolster its efforts to research, model and tackle climate change.

TWS and GPAP recommend the following actions by the Tasmanian Government:

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Appendix 1. Rob Blakers’ photographs of fire damage to primitive flora of Outstanding Universal Value in the TWWHA, taken 29, 30 January 2016, and in early February 2016.

Burnt and killed pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides), Central Plateau Conservation Area, part of the TWWHA.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Burnt and killed pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides), Central Plateau Conservation Area, part of the TWWHA.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Burnt and killed pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) with frond, Central Plateau Conservation Area, part of the TWWHA.

Charred cushion plants, Central Plateau Conservation Area, part of Wilderness World Heritage property – Lake Mackenzie in background

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Burnt cushion plants and other alpine species, Central Plateau Conservation Area, part of the TWWHA.

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Burnt cushion plants and other alpine species, Central Plateau Conservation Area, part of the TWWHA.

Burnt rainforest species and high-altitude eucalypt forests, Devils Gullet area, part of the TWWHA..

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Burnt vegetation at the base of cliffs, Devils Gullet area, part of the TWWHA..

Blackened vista, Devils Gullet area, part of the TWWHA.. 34

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Walking track to formerly popular lookout, Devils Gullet, part of the TWWHA..

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Burnt eucalypts and rainforest, Devils Gullet area, part of the TWWHA..

Burnt copse of pencil pines, Central Plateau, part of the TWWHA.

Burnt pencil pines alpine moorland, Central Plateau, Blackened vista, part of the TWWHA.. 36

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 Appendix 2. Some media reports on the impact and threat to the Tasmanian Wilderness from current wild fires, January and February 2016

Nature Tasmanian bushfires threaten iconic ancient forests http://www.nature.com/news/tasmanian-bushfires-threaten-iconic-ancient-forests-1.19308#/

Sydney Morning Herald ‘Like losing the thylacine’: Fire burns Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area http://www.smh.com.au/environment/like-losing-the-thylacine-fire-burns-tasmanian-wilderness-world- heritage-area-20160131-gmi2re.html#ixzz3zo96DUUd

Explainer: Why is Tasmania's world heritage area burning? http://www.smh.com.au/environment/explainer-why-is-tasmanias-world-heritage-area-burning-20160205- gmn9ay.html#ixzz3zo9ee381

Guardian World heritage forests burn as global tragedy unfolds in Tasmania http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/world-heritage-forests-burn-as-global-tragedy-unfolds- in-tasmania

Tasmania bushfires leave world heritage area devastated – in pictures http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2016/feb/02/tasmania-bushfires-leave-world-heritage-area- devastated-in-pictures

Tasmanian bushfires 'worst crisis in decades' for world heritage forests http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/22/tasmanian-bushfires-worst-crisis-in-decades-for-world- heritage-forests

The Japan Times Tasmanian bush fires raze ancient World Heritage forests http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/31/asia-pacific/science-health-asia-pacific/tasmanian-bush-fires- raze-ancient-world-heritage-forests/#.Vq7wfZ87bqB

Hobart Mercury All at risk of being lost forever http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/all-at-risk-of-being-lost-forever/news- story/4e52c12a3b950e820140dca25895f7b3

The Conversation Fires in Tasmania’s ancient forests are a warning for all of us https://theconversation.com/fires-in-tasmanias-ancient-forests-are-a-warning-for-all-of-us-53806

The Daily Mail (UK) Paradise lost: The devastation of Tasmanian wilderness where bushfires wiped out thousand-year-old trees and left sad kangaroos dying in the mud is revealed http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3429623/Tasmanian-World-Heritage-area-devastated-bushfire.html

ABC Catalyst http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4437596.htm 37

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Appendix 3 Undated letter (approximately 29 January 2016) by the Australian Minister for the Environment regarding the fires

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016

Appendix 4

TWS media release as the crisis unfolded – 22 January 2016

Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016 References

ABC News (2016a). Tasmania bushfires: Four-day fire ban declared as 50 blazes remain uncontrolled. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-22/tasmania-bushfires-four-day- fire-ban-declared-to-australia-day/7108964. Accessed 24 March 2016 2016. ABC News (2016b). Tasmanian bushfires: Crews could be battling blazes for months to come, TFS says. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-15/tasmanian-bushfire-crews- prepare-for-worsening-conditions/7167264. Accessed 11 April 2016 2016. Tasmanian bushfires: Fire service will 'investigate and prosecute' if fires deliberately lit. (2016c, ABC News. Baines, R. (2016). Tasmanian bushfires: TFS chief rejects claims ADF offers of assistance were rejected during fire-fighting efforts. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02- 10/tasmanian-fire-authorities-rejected-offer-of-military-assistance/7154258. Accessed 11 April 2016 2016. Parliamentary inquiry hears cash squeeze puts TFS in budget crisis. (2016, 3 March 2016). Mercury. Bowman, D. (2016). Fires in Tasmania's ancient forests are a warning for all of us. The Conversation, Department of the Environment, A. G. (2013). Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape. http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi- bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;search=state%3DTAS%3Blist_code%3DNHL %3Bkeyword_PD%3Don%3Bkeyword_SS%3Don%3Bkeyword_PH%3Don%3Blatit ude_1dir%3DS%3Blongitude_1dir%3DE%3Blongitude_2dir%3DE%3Blatitude_2dir %3DS%3Bin_region%3Dpart;place_id=105751. DPIPWE (2014). Draft Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Management Plan. In P. Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (Ed.). Hobart: Tasmanian Government. Gibson, S. (2016). Tasmanian firefighters hope favourable weather will help them overcome major blazes. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-17/adf-sets-up-tasmanian- firefighter-base-camp-at-stanley/7175610. Accessed 12 April 2016 2016. CSIRO climate cuts 'devastating', almost 3000 scientists tell Malcolm Turnbull. (2016, 12 February 2016). Sydney Morning Herald. Hidding, R. (2016a). A big thanks to interstate firefighters. Hobart: Tasmanian Government. Hidding, R. (2016b). Greens attack professionalism of fire fighters. Hobart: Tasmanian Government. Hodgman, W. (2016). Research project to protect wilderness areas. Hobart: Tasmanian Government. Hodgman, W., & Hidding, R. (2016). Interstate support to assist Tasmanian fire fighters. Hobart: Tasmanian Government. Hunt, G. (2016). Undated letter to Senator Nick McKim, February 2016. Jaeger, T., & Sand, C. (2016). Reactive Monitoring Mission to the Tasmanian Wilderness, Australia, 23 - 29 November 2015. Mission Report: UNESCO, ICOMOS, IUCN. Jordan G.J., Harrison P.A., Worth J.R.P., Williamson, G. J., & Kirkpatrick, J. B. (2015). Palaeoendemic plants provide evidence for persistence of open, well-watered vegetation since the Cretaceous. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 1-14, doi:10.1111/geb.12389. Kirkpatrick, J. B. (2016). Letter to the Editor, 27 January 2016. Hobart Mercury, 27 January 2016.

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Submission - Senate Inquiry into bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness – April 2016