Published works

Australian eucalypt forests are among the few forest types where prescribed burning—including fuel reduction fires, slash burning after forestry operations and ecological burning—has been practiced for many years. While empirical evidence shows that prescribed burning can reduce the incident and extent of unplanned fires in Australia, the integration of environmental values into fire management operations is not well defined and requires further research and development. In practice, the priority for prescribed burning is for effective mitigation of risk to life and property while environmental management objectives including maintenance of high water yield and quality, reduction of CO2 emissions, carbon sequestration and conservation of biodiversity may be reasonably constrained by this priority. Our research progress towards optimisation of fuel reduction burning with water, carbon and other environmental outcomes during the past 12 months is described. Highlights include the commencement of fieldwork in Victoria and the ACT, a review of current frameworks and decision systems for planning prescribed burning and ‘road testing’ of our Sampling Schema by End User agencies. A PhD student whose project will add value to our research was successful in gaining a BNHCRC top up scholarship.