Category Archives: Fire Management

Tarran Valley 2: the cost of development to nearby bushland

Would the development require that woodland in the reserve be severely altered in order to protect residents from fire? The CFA submission to the panel states that ‘the broader surrounding bushland having interface with the subject land has the potential … Continue reading

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Tarran Valley 3: the cost of fire

The DEPI submission is an eloquent statement of something which has been informally acknowledged for years: that fuel management in Asset Protection Zones necessarily involves destruction of important ecological values. DEPI also provides us with another interesting insight into fire … Continue reading

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No news is…well, no news

The first issue of the Barwon Otway Bushfire Risk Landscape newsletter is out. It can be found here. As we’ve previously reported, this risk landscape approach has been put up as a model of future more efficient landscape management. The problem is … Continue reading

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Kalimna Park burn delayed

The Friends of Kalimna Park have been informed that the DEPI burn planned for this autumn has been deferred to next year, to allow for more detailed planning of this exercise close to Castlemaine. The fuel reduction exercise will involve … Continue reading

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March fire meeting

Conservationists from the Bendigo and Otways regions met with DEPI senior staff in March to discuss matters to do with the Fire Operations Plan. Excellent detailed notes on this meeting can be found on the Living with Ecology and Fire … Continue reading

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Summer reading: brace yourself

With grass growth pretty prolific around our region, it might be worth a look back at the 2009 Black Saturday Redesdale fire. As far as we know, Robert Kenny’s Gardens of Fire: an investigative memoir, [UWA Publishing 2013] is the … Continue reading

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Forget about VCE results: here’s the DEPI report

DEPI has produced a report on its fuel management activity for 2012-13: Reducing Victoria’s bushfire risk on public land. The relevant sections can be found here and here. The report offers a four part scale of achievement: –‘fully achieved’ –‘achieved … Continue reading

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Bushfire ‘risk landscape’ forum in Castlemaine

This forum–focussing on the West Central district–was held in Castlemaine on December 11 for a disappointing attendance of only 8 community members, outnumbered by DEPI officers. The West Central district covers the area from Geelong to north of Bendigo, and … Continue reading

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Ecology last?

The Castlemaine Forum was given a summary of the bushfire risk profile developed by DEPI in cooperation with various research bodies. The profile is a working document rather than a set of conclusions, and is about risk to human life … Continue reading

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Quotable quote

From DEPI’s Risk profiles report, page 30: ‘Fuel reduction is much more effective in some areas than others in reducing overall bushfire risk [to life and safety].’ This common sense observation is yet another dig at the five per cent … Continue reading

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