Submission to NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry Dailan Pugh, for North East Forest Alliance, April 2020
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NEFA Submission to NSW Bushfire Inquiry Submission to NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry Dailan Pugh, for North East Forest Alliance, April 2020 Six months later: Much of the heavily burnt stands in Ellangowan State Forest are not going to recover, 1 NEFA Submission to NSW Bushfire Inquiry Consideration against the NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry's terms of reference: 1. The causes of, and factors contributing to, the frequency, intensity, timing and location of, bushfires in NSW in the 2019- 20 bushfire season, including consideration of any role of weather, drought, climate change, fuel loads and human activity. 6. [to make recommendations on] hazard reduction, zoning, and any appropriate use of indigenous practices. 2019 was Australia’s hottest, driest year on record and 2018-2019 was southeast Australia's driest two-year period on record. It is apparent the principle exasperating factors affecting the severity and extent of the 2019-20 bushfires in north-east NSW were the record drought and temperatures in the preceding months. There can be no doubt the extent and severity of the fires were due to climate heating. Though there are numerous underlying factors contributing to the dryness, structure, and composition of the vegetation, and thus the nature and extent of the fires. Fire initiated by lightning has been a factor driving evolution and adaptation of Australian biota for millions of years, long before people arrived. There can be no doubt that people, and their use of fire for a variety of purposes, changed the extent and frequency of fire in parts of the landscape, and thus contributed to subsequent environmental changes. What is not clear is the significance of these contributions. It appears that people first arrived on the Australian continent around 50,000 years ago. The first people used landscape fire to clear passageways, aid hunting, create green pick to concentrate prey and promote growth of food plants. It is apparent that their use of fire would have been tailored to regional and ecosystem differences, and specific management goals, as well as having to adapt between years and over time to changing climates. Within a few thousand years of arrival, Aboriginal burning regimes in Monsoon forests may have facilitated a decline in rainforests, expansion of grassy woodlands, the elimination of the megafauna, and increasing aridity as the Monsoon rainfalls retreated from central Australia. Human induced changes in fire regimes due to 'firestick farming' have been attributed by some as a principal causative factor of the changes, though equally the changes have been attributed to climate changes. The conclusion from long term charcoal and pollen analyses up until European arrival, is that the dominant influence on fire since Aboriginal settlement has been the variable climate, as vegetation and fire events apparently varied primarily in response to climate regardless of human presence (see Section 1). The evidence reviewed herein indicates that before the European invasion the wetter forests of north-east NSW are likely to have had fire regimes measured in centuries, and for drier forests one 2 NEFA Submission to NSW Bushfire Inquiry measured in multiple decades. There were evidently long fire-free periods. It appears that some areas may have had significantly increased fire frequencies due to Aboriginal burning (at least over the past 5,000 years), though these were likely discrete areas. (see Section 1.1.) What is apparent from charcoal records across Australia is that the frequency of fire increased dramatically with settlement by Europeans, before declining slightly more recently since the adoption of fire suppression policies. (see Section 1.1.) Many of the proponents for increased burning who cite Aboriginal 'firestick' farming don't seem to be advocating replicating the burning regimes actually practiced, with all the nuances about seasons, patch size, frequency, exclusions etc (i.e. Bird et. al. 2008), but rather a free-for-all where people can burn at will. People who are advocating a return to the good old days are primarily calling for a return of the record European burning of a few decades ago, not to the Aboriginal burning regimes of hundreds or thousands of years ago. Frequent patch burning is being advocated as the traditional Aboriginal cultural burning regime for east coast forests, despite the lack of evidence that Aborigines applied a frequent burning regime in north-east NSW (Sections 1 and 1.1.). The importation of Aboriginal burning regimes from Monsoon woodlands on Cape York to temperate forests in NSW without recognition that they are very different environments and ecosystems with very different fire histories cannot be considered 'culturally' appropriate. If we want to emulate the burning that occurred in north-east NSW during pre-European times then we need to retain most forests free of fire for decades or centuries. This is considered a worthwhile goal, though regrettably it is likely unattainable in many areas due to human demands, the degraded nature of the vegetation, the drying of regional climates due to land clearing and the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events due to climate heating. Never-the-less a return to natural fire frequencies should be pursued where possible through both fire suppression in remote areas and allowing occasional wildfires to run their course. The evidence is that frequent landscape burning is a relatively recent cultural construct of European invaders in north-east NSW's forests, particularly to facilitate cattle grazing, there is no evidence it was a cultural practice of Aboriginal people before then. Changes to forest's flammability since European settlement have been profound. What is most apparent is that the extent, structure and species composition of forests have been dramatically altered. Large areas of forests and woodlands have been cleared, while increased burning, logging and stock grazing have significantly altered forest's species composition, structure and microclimates. Introduced grasses and weeds (notably lantana) provide novel fuel sources. It is a very different environment and climate from what existed 230 years ago and fire behaves differently in this altered landscape. Changes initiated by human activity since European invasion include: 1. Displacement of Aboriginal fire management by European fire regimes, resulting in dramatic increases in the frequency and intensities of fires, thereby altering the nature and structure of vegetation, and increasing its flammability (see Section 1.1.). 2. Extensive land clearing resulting in fragmented forests, and regional increases in temperatures and reduced rainfall, thereby amplifying climatic extremes and increasing landscape flammability (see Section 5.1.) . 3 NEFA Submission to NSW Bushfire Inquiry 3. Altering forest structure through logging, by removing most older trees, while increasing younger age classes with more contiguous canopies, increasing transpiration and water demand, along with flammability (see Section 2). 4. Livestock increasing and changing grazing pressure, changing the structure and species composition of forest understories, eating tree seedlings, compacting soils, promoting weeds, degrading wetlands and eroding stream banks, thereby affecting vegetation structure and flammability (see Section 3). 5. Introduction of exotic grasses and weeds that have changed the structure and flammability of vegetation (see Section 3.4, 4.2.2.) Clearing has significantly altered the climate by reducing evapotranspiration and surface roughness, thereby reducing regional rainfalls and increasing temperatures. These changes are being compounded by climate heating which is increasing temperatures and intensifying droughts. The result of these impacts is a significant increase in the frequency and longevity of extreme fire weather. Whatever the fire regime was 230 years ago, it is unlikely to be appropriate or successful in current forests with such wide expanses significantly altered by recent use and a heating climate. A high priority has to be to stop degrading forests and restore their natural resilience to burning. An over- riding intent has to maintain viable populations of the numerous species whose populations have been decimated by the consequences of past land management. Since European settlement people have built permanent houses and infrastructure throughout forested landscapes, changing the emphasis of burning to protecting widely dispersed and expensive assets. It is recognised that frequent control, fuel reduction and/or patch burning are necessary tools for fire management in our changing world, though they have to be applied judiciously to maximise direct protection of assets while minimising environmental impacts. Relevant recommendations: R1.1., R1.2., R1.3., R2.1., R3.1. 2. The preparation and planning... for bushfires in NSW, including current laws, practices and strategies ... 5 [to make recommendations on] Preparation and planning for future bushfire threats and risks. 7. [to make recommendations on] Appropriate action to adapt to future bushfire risks to communities and ecosystems. Due to climate heating bushfires are becoming more frequent and intense. As evidenced in 2019- 20, droughts and heatwaves are drying forests out and making them more flammable. The fires were of unprecedented extent burning through 2.4 million hectares of north-east NSW, and unprecedented intensity as evidenced by the burning of 35% of rainforest. The situation is dire