Burning Issues – Sustainability and Management of Australia’s Southern Forests.

Abstract

THE day we know how every Australian plant and animal responds to three fire intensities, three fire frequencies, and two fire seasons is the day that fire managers will finally have a decent handle on this most complex of processes. In the meantime though, where the science runs out fire management is directed by best guesses. In Australia, these guesses fall into three paradigms: the ecological paradigm; the indigenous paradigm; and the forestry paradigm. The ecological paradigm is species-centred and based on Ockham’s Razor — the assumption that the simplest answer is the most likely. The indigenous paradigm is based on the assumption that aboriginal people were the dominant drivers of fire regimes before Europeans arrived and that the best thing that we can do to manage fire now is to try to emulate what we think they used to do. The forestry paradigm is based on the assumption that traditional timber production practices are the best way to meet fire management aims. In practice, most fire management programs are an amalgam of all three paradigms with priority given to one or another depending on the circumstances and worldview of the practitioners.