From Hectares to Tailor-Made Solutions for Prescribed Burning
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FROM HECTARES TO TAILOR-MADE SOLUTIONS FOR PRESCRIBED BURNING Ross Bradstock1, Matthias Boer2, Trent Penman3, Owen Price1, Brett Cirulis3, Hamish Clarke1,2 1 Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, University of Wollongong, NSW 2 Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, NSW 3 School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne, VIC THIS PROJECT WILL DELIVER A PRESCRIBED BURNING ATLAS TO GUIDE IMPLEMENTATION OF ‘TAILOR-MADE’ PRESCRIBED BURNING STRATEGIES TO SUIT THE BIOPHYSICAL, CLIMATIC AND HUMAN CONTEXT OF ALL BIOREGIONS ACROSS SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. THE ATLAS WILL DEFINE THE QUANTITATIVE TRAJECTORY OF RISK REDUCTION FOR MULTIPLE VALUES IN RESPONSE TO DIFFERING PRESCRIBED BURNING STRATEGIES Fifteen Bioregions have been selected CASE STUDY SIMULATIONS FIRE SEVERITY as the locations for detailed landscape- Case study simulations are in progress for Owen Price and colleagues recently scale simulation case studies, using the the first round of peri-urban case study investigated the main drivers of crown IBRA (Interim Biogeographic areas (Adelaide Hills, Sydney Basin, East fire for 23 bushfires from NSW dry Regionalisation for Australia) Version 7 Central Victoria, Hobart and ACT). forests. Their findings suggest that the classification. influence of weather, fuel levels, and Fire simulations will test the effect of slope on crown fire likelihood are not various combinations of weather, wildfire adequately incorporated into current history and prescribed burning levels fire behaviour models and fuel over period of 20 years. management strategies. Figure 1. Case study bioregions South East Queensland, Victoria Midlands, South East Corner, South East Highlands and Tasmanian Southern Figure 2. Potential ignition and prescribed Figure 3. Fire severity map, Pilliga Ranges Bioregions selected. These form burn treatment locations for the Hobart a gradient of mainly forested simulation areas landscapes along the east coast, ranges and slopes, encompassing wide EMPIRICAL ANALYSES variations in population and land uses. Complementing the simulation work will be a series of empirical analyses of the Murray Darling Depression, Flinders Lofty impacts of prescribed burning on burned Block, Jarrah Forest/Swan Coastal Plain, area, fire frequency and fire severity Esperance Bioregions. These form a across the study area. mixed gradient of dry vegetation from western Victoria to south western WA, Empirical analyses of effects of including possible case studies in the prescribed burning on area burned vicinity of Adelaide and Perth. across south eastern Australia have been Figure 4. Crown fire occurrence as a completed and recently published. function of time since fire. Grey area Murray Darling Depression, Nandewar, shows 95% confidence interval. Dots NSW South Western Slopes. Potentially, We are finalising the experimental show actual values. several case studies in these Bioregions design for empirical analyses of fire will represent the spectrum of mixed severity in relation to prescribed burning Storey M, Price O, Tasker E. The role of agriculture and remnant vegetation that effects. weather, past fire and topography in typifies these moderately populated crown fire occurrence in eastern While our data covers much of southern inland regions in Victoria and NSW. Australia. International Journal of Australia, we will initially focus on Wildland Fire (accepted) Great Victoria Desert, Broken Hill matching the empirical analyses to the Complex. Case studies situated in SA case study simulation areas. This CONTACT US and NSW will explore effects in these maximise the potential for use in To find out more, contact Professor sparsely populated rangelands and validation of simulation output. Ross Bradstock at [email protected]. conservation reserves. © BUSHFIRE AND NATURAL HAZARDS CRC 2016.