Large areas of Pilliga scrub are burning right now in central western NSW with large koala populations threatened.
The forests were declared national park less than 18 months ago, with many timber workers losing their jobs*. At the time the timber workers warned that unless National Parks and Wildlife officers maintained fire breaks and control burnt the entire forest could convert back to grassland.
Today a new group, the NSW Private Native Forestry Group put out a media release about forests and fires with particular reference to the fires now burning in the Pilliga:
"With predictions that this summer will see the worst bushfires in the state’s recorded history, farmers and foresters are warning that further government restrictions on the management of forests on private land will dramatically increase the threat and severity of bushfires.
“It’s time the NSW Government knew what farmers and foresters have known for decades: sustainable management of forests reduces the risk of catastrophic bushfires,” said Andrew Hurford, forester and spokesperson of the NSW Private Native Forests Group.
“Farmers and foresters help to reduce the frequency and intensity of bushfires by managing dangerous fuel loads that accumulate on the forest floor before they become a problem. We also play a crucial role in maintaining fire trails so that firefighters can access remote areas quickly.
“Farmers and foresters are the best ‘frontline of defence’ against bushfires: we are the ‘eyes and ears’ of the forest, helping to put out fires as soon as they occur. It’s in our best interests to protect these forests from catastrophic wild fires,” said Mr Hurford.
Mr Hurford said that radical green groups would have politicians believe that the policy of ‘Fence and Forget’ is the best way to conserve native forests on private land: a theory that totally ignores the fact that Aboriginals actively managed Australia’s bushland for thousands of years.
“Just look at how this policy has been an absolute disaster for fire management in our National Parks. For example, in the last forty-eight hours, 100,000 hectares of the Pilliga Forest near Coonabarabran in Central West NSW has been incinerated,” said Mr Hurford.
“Today, over 8.5 million hectares of private land in NSW (an area larger than Tasmania) are able to be looked after and sustainably managed for timber production by farmers and foresters.
“Millions of hectares of native bushland and millions of dollars worth of rural infrastructure, such as fences and sheds, will be incinerated if radical green groups get their way on locking-up private forests,” Mr Hurford said.
In August this year, the NSW Government was forced by angry farmers, timber mill owners and workers to shelve its plan to introduce a ‘Code’ that would have seen 60 per cent of forests on private land ‘locked-up’ into de facto National Parks.
“Without private landholders, who will be left to safeguard bushland from fires?” said Mr Hurford.
The 2003 ‘State of the Environment Report’ for the Australian Capital Territory lists that nearly 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted into the atmosphere during the January 2003 Canberra wildfires: equivalent to 1.6 million new cars on the road for a year.
“The radical green policy of ‘Fence and Forget’ will lead to more catastrophic bushfires and more greenhouse gas emissions – the very thing governments are trying to prevent!” said Mr Hurford.
The NSW Private Native Forests Group is made up of timber mill owners, forest workers and farmers who harvest timber from private land. The Group is supported by the NSW Forest Products Association, Timber Communities Australia and Australian Forest Grower’s. Private native forestry is the long term and sustainable management of native forests on privately-owned land. The industry employs approximately 3,000 people and generates over $300 million for the NSW regional economy. Around a third of all native forests in NSW (or 8.5 million hectares) are on private land.
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* At the time I wrote several blog posts on the issue including:
Timber Communities and National Parks (Part 1), 21st April 2005
https://climatelab.com.au/blog/archives/000563.html
Pilliga-Goono Lockup Announced, 5th May 2005:
https://climatelab.com.au/blog/archives/000590.html
And I wrote about enviromentalism and the forests for On Line Opinion in June 2005:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3535
Peter Lezaich refers to the time factor between the moment a fire is detected and the time when the fire fighting operation arrives at the hot spot.
With today's detection methods a fire ignited by lighting etc is reported by "chance or luck" with a time lag. Either an observation aircraft flies over a given area or manned look-outs detect a fire or a car driver on a motorway reports a fire on his mobile. The fire normally reached already a remarkable dimension and dynamic.
Critical information that needs a further investigation usually is the location, type and characteristic of fire, directon of the fire etc. Valuable time is lost (up to one hour) during collection of such information which is however necessary to launch the fire fighting operation. Usually it takes two hours or more until the operation can start actively.
With the Fire Watch Technology we install sensor units that monitor bush and forest areas around the clock. The Control Center has instant access to the wildland without delay. The area is under constant control. The operator at the Control Centre has access to the complete area shown on his screen and without any time delay he can send out an alarm to the Fire Fighting Managment. Operations can be launched during an early stage when a fire has not yet developed its strong dynamics.
Time is crutial. Modern Technology like Fire Watch is a tactical instrument to collect exact and valuable information without loss of time and guide Fire Fighters and aircrafts to the disaster area. It is possible to have first activities within half an hour on the spot while it usually takes up to two hours until first the operation starts with conventional reporting systems.
In the South of France the successful experience with the Fire Watch System confirmed that the real-time monitoring with collection of real-time data reduced the time by 1 1/2h to 2h until Fire Fighting Operations were on place.
The technology to assist Fire Fighting Management is available and can be integrated into the Bush and Forest Fire Prevention Managment.