Report by Richard Moore
Fire was the main theme of the combined SWAN/Master TreeGrower course field day held in the Toodyay district on Saturday 26 August 2017.
Various perspectives on fire in bushland were presented at the Dawn Atwell Reserve.
Greg Warburton (above), Reserves Management Officer with the Shire of Toodyay, outlined the history of the Reserve. With his Toodyay Naturalists’ Club hat on, he explained that the Club was pleased with the mild winter burn conducted in the Reserve the previous year. Read more >>
Roger Underwood (below), a well-known forest practitioner with prodigious experience in fire and forest management, outlined his views on bushfire protection and wandoo regeneration. His main point was that wandoo forest, like all eucalypt forests, is bush-fire prone and that to clean away fuels, should be burnt with a mild burn every few years. He favours light patchy burns done during warm, sunny days in winter. Read more >>
Fire was the main theme of the combined SWAN/Master TreeGrower course field day held in the Toodyay district on Saturday 26 August 2017.
Various perspectives on fire in bushland were presented at the Dawn Atwell Reserve.
Greg Warburton (above), Reserves Management Officer with the Shire of Toodyay, outlined the history of the Reserve. With his Toodyay Naturalists’ Club hat on, he explained that the Club was pleased with the mild winter burn conducted in the Reserve the previous year. Read more >>
Roger Underwood (below), a well-known forest practitioner with prodigious experience in fire and forest management, outlined his views on bushfire protection and wandoo regeneration. His main point was that wandoo forest, like all eucalypt forests, is bush-fire prone and that to clean away fuels, should be burnt with a mild burn every few years. He favours light patchy burns done during warm, sunny days in winter. Read more >>
Brett Beecham (below), ecologist with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, described some adaptions of flora and fauna to fire. He also outlined some of the challenges confronting fire managers, including weeds and the effects of long-term fire exclusion. Read more >>
Greg, Roger and Brett led the 30 field day attendees on a walk through the bush, stopping to look at a variety of features, including plants coming up after the recent mild burn, fire scars on wandoo trees from past bushfires and the mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas.
Fire protection
After lunch John Hansen, Bushfire Risk Management Planning Coordinator with the Beverley Shire, and Tyron McMahon from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, led a discussion on bushfire protection. With the aid of graphic videos, John and Tyron stressed the importance of having a plan of what you would do in the event of a bushfire. They also highlighted the importance of revisiting the plan every year, preferably involving all the family.
John led the group on a walk around his property looking at the still obvious impact of the severe bushfire 8 years earlier.
Toodyay Community Nursery
Bethan Lloyd, EO with the Australian Sandalwood Network, showed the group the Toodyay Community Nursery. She explained how the nursery relies to a large extent on volunteers. They grow mainly local native species and make them available in early winter for purchase by private landholders and for free for community projects. Read more >>
The National Mallee fowl Recovery Team
Liz Kington, WA Project Officer with the National Mallee fowl Recovery Team, spoke about the Mallee fowl Project. The national experiment aims to determine how best to manage Mallee fowl across Australia. Liz’s work will involve making sure that the project gets the data it needs from the field through community and government monitoring of Mallee fowl mounds in the chosen paired sites. Read more >>
Special thanks go to Greg Warburton for all he did in helping to set up the day, including assisting with lining up presenters, sites and a caterer. Thanks also to all the presenters - Bethan Lloyd, Roger Underwood, Brett Beecham, Liz Kington, John Hansen and Tyron McMahon.
As one of the attendees said, “It was great to hear the range of perspectives on a complex and important topic”.
Greg, Roger and Brett led the 30 field day attendees on a walk through the bush, stopping to look at a variety of features, including plants coming up after the recent mild burn, fire scars on wandoo trees from past bushfires and the mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas.
Fire protection
After lunch John Hansen, Bushfire Risk Management Planning Coordinator with the Beverley Shire, and Tyron McMahon from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, led a discussion on bushfire protection. With the aid of graphic videos, John and Tyron stressed the importance of having a plan of what you would do in the event of a bushfire. They also highlighted the importance of revisiting the plan every year, preferably involving all the family.
John led the group on a walk around his property looking at the still obvious impact of the severe bushfire 8 years earlier.
Toodyay Community Nursery
Bethan Lloyd, EO with the Australian Sandalwood Network, showed the group the Toodyay Community Nursery. She explained how the nursery relies to a large extent on volunteers. They grow mainly local native species and make them available in early winter for purchase by private landholders and for free for community projects. Read more >>
The National Mallee fowl Recovery Team
Liz Kington, WA Project Officer with the National Mallee fowl Recovery Team, spoke about the Mallee fowl Project. The national experiment aims to determine how best to manage Mallee fowl across Australia. Liz’s work will involve making sure that the project gets the data it needs from the field through community and government monitoring of Mallee fowl mounds in the chosen paired sites. Read more >>
Special thanks go to Greg Warburton for all he did in helping to set up the day, including assisting with lining up presenters, sites and a caterer. Thanks also to all the presenters - Bethan Lloyd, Roger Underwood, Brett Beecham, Liz Kington, John Hansen and Tyron McMahon.
As one of the attendees said, “It was great to hear the range of perspectives on a complex and important topic”.
