Q&A with A/Prof Phil Zylstra - National Fire Fuels Science webinar: the science of hazard reduction

A/Prof Phil Zylstra (Curtin University) answers viewer questions that we didn't get time for during our National Fire Fuels Science webinar: the science of hazard reduction. The webinar took place on 13 May 2020. Watch the webinar at https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/firefuelswebinar/2

• 0:17 How does hazard reduction burning promote healthy species and ecosystem diversity?
• 3:53 Do we need to consider the impacts of ecosystems being repeatedly burnt by severe fire at periods less than the calculated ecosystem recovery period?
• 8:43 Waiting decades for the understory to thin out would reduce the hazard over long turn. However, in practice it would be untenable to wait and do nothing. Are we now locked into a cycle of having to keep the system in the early stages of recovery?
• 10:46 What practical solution can be employed to protect forests from burning, while allowing them to recover and grow to maturity, to regain protective canopies?