As we’ve previously reported, draft DELWP fire maps have shown an area along the Loddon River between Vaughan and Glenluce as Zone 2 (bushfire management): this would require management burns to cover 80% of the defined area at uncomfortably regular intervals.
We questioned fire officers at the June meeting of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists about the safety value and ecological impact of such a plan, and have since been informed not only that the area has now been changed to Zone 3, Landscape Management (a gentler system of fuel management) but that the Department will not deliberately burn River Red Gum zones like this one. FOBIF is extremely wary of any plan to deliberately burn this steep river valley, and will watch the future planning of fire along the valley to see exactly what is intended for this area.