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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 30(1)

Fire and its management in central Australia

G. P. Edwards A D , G. E. Allan B , C. Brock A , A. Duguid A , K. Gabrys A and P. Vaarzon-Morel C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Natural Resources, Environment, and the Arts, PO Box 1120, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia.

B Department of Natural Resources, Environment, and the Arts, PO Box 2533, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia.

C PO Box 3561, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: glen.edwards@nt.gov.au

The Rangeland Journal 30(1) 109-121 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ07037
Submitted: 6 June 2007  Accepted: 22 November 2007   Published: 1 April 2008

Abstract

Over the last 130 years, patterns of land use in central Australia have altered dramatically, and so too have fire regimes and fire management objectives. Although Aboriginal people still have tenure over large parts of the landscape, their lifestyles have changed. Most Aboriginal people now live in towns and settlements and, although fire management is still culturally important, the opportunities for getting out on country to burn are constrained. Large parts of the landscape are now used for pastoral production. Under this land use the management objective is often one of fire exclusion. The other large-scale land use is for conservation. Here, fire management has a greater focus on conserving biodiversity using various burning strategies. In this paper we explore contemporary fire regimes in central Australia. Widespread fire events are found to be associated with two or more consecutive years of above-average rainfall. Although most of the fires linked with these high rainfall periods occur during the warmer months, in recent times these fires have exhibited increased activity during the cooler months. There has been a concomitant increase in the number and size of these fires and in the number of fires associated with roads. We also explored current fire management issues on Aboriginal, pastoral and conservation lands. Current fire management goals are not being wholly met on any of these land tenures in central Australia and social conflict sometimes emerges as a result. There are overlaps in management aims, issues and the under-achievement of desired outcomes across the land tenures which lead us to five key recommendations for improving fire management outcomes in central Australia. We finish with some comments on associated opportunities for livelihood enhancement based on the management of fire.

Additional keywords: Aboriginal, conservation, pastoral.


Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, the Northern Territory Government and the Central Land Council. We offer particular thanks to Richard Tuckwell and Nic Gambold who helped design and implement some aspects of the study and Kathy McConnell who helped with reference material. We also thank the numerous informants who participated in the study. Fiona Walsh and two anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments on a draft of the paper.


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