Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

The following is the response submitted to the DSE draft Fire Operations Plan by the Friends of Kalimna Park. The Department proposes to burn two sections of the Park: one, bounded by the tourist road, the town boundary and Hunter’s Track [CAS 003]; and the second, much larger parcel, mainly on the east and north of the tourist road [CAS 007]. FOBIF supports the ideas put forward in this submission:

1 General

We understand that there is a perceived risk in this area from wildfire and that some fuel reduction burning for strategic asset protection may be required. However, we do have concerns that a statewide assessment of risk and burn area targets may be applied in Kalimna Park and implemented without due regard to the values of the Park. The area is a rich woodland with its characteristic understorey

Kalimna Park, September 2012: a rich woodland much used by Castlemaine residents.

and ground cover plants and associated fauna, having slowly regenerated since clearing during the gold rush and successive impacts. There are some rare or threatened species in the Park, but the richness of the whole area’s biodiversity is impressive. The Park’s proximity to Castlemaine may be seen to pose a risk, but it also contributes greatly to the character of the town and this is appreciated by many people.

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FOBIF’s detailed response to the draft Fire Operations Plan for our district is published below. We will know the effect of this and other responses to the draft plan when we attend a meeting with DSE in Bendigo in mid September.

As we have previously made clear, our major worry is the signals we have been receiving from DSE workers that there is little intention of following the directions of the Code of Practice in Zone 3 burn operations.

Hunters Creek, in the Tarilta catchment: if current proposals go ahead, we estimate that 70-80% of this catchment will have been severely burned within a five year period.

Other serious concerns include the allocation of a huge area of Mount Tarrengower to be 90% burned, and a section of the Diggings Park south of Guildford to be 80% burned. The full submission follows:

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The St Arnaud Field Naturalists Club has made a detailed submission to DSE regarding the draft fire operations plan for the St Arnaud area. Below we reprint part of the covering letter attached to the submission. Although of course conditions vary from district to district, readers will notice that many of the concerns expressed here overlap with our own [Please note that ‘ecological management zones’ have now been renamed ‘landscape management zones’. DSE signage is sometimes out of date]:

‘…We note that all areas listed [for burning] are labelled “Ecological Management Zone”; we believe this to be misleading as there is no reason to manage the ecology of the areas by burning, ie., there are no fire-dependant species. Burning will produce a simplification of the understorey remaining after 15 years of intense drought and heavy grazing by kangaroos. Already, long-term (more than a decade)studies by both our group and Monash University researchers show that habitat degradation and simplification(loss of species) have resulted in a decline in the number of bird species using our bush areas as well as a serious decline in the number of birds within all species. This decline continues despite two years of above average rainfall. Further loss of the integrity of our Park and allied reserves will mean a further decline in species.

Hedge wattle, August 2012: spring burning is a contentious issue because of its effects on flowering plants and breeding birds and animals.

‘For the National Park and Reserves, loss of the remaining understorey and ground litter layer will result in increased soil temperatures leading to loss of soil microbiota- the basis of the entire food chain; loss of soil moisture resulting in

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The following is FOBIF’s draft submission on the Fire Operations Plan [see above]. Member feedback is invited:

GENERAL COMMENTS

1. We believe that as far as possible, burn areas be small: less than 100 ha. In zones 1 and 2, they should be smaller than 50 ha. In our opinion, this would make it easier for managers to pay close attention to ecological values, something hard or impossible with large hectare burns.

2. DSE should where possible integrate weed and fire management in the burn plans. We note that integration of weed management and bushfire control is part of the Mount Alexander municipal fire plan.

Middleton Creek, Castlemaine Diggings NHP: Common sense dictates that steep slopes should not be burned, and that important old trees not be destroyed.

3. In Zone 3 burns, unless it is possible to guarantee that burn cover will not exceed 20% [that is, unless it is possible to guarantee a genuine mosaic burn], and that vulnerable areas [eg, steep areas, or areas of particular interest, like large trees, creeksides etc] can be protected, we believe that managers should aim to burn precisely defined areas within the treatment zone. We would like to have access to the Zone 3 burn plans for our area.

4. Spring burns should be avoided.

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