Fire Management in Northern Australia - Term Paper Example

Fire Management in Northern Australia Fire Management in Northern Australia Introduction Around the globe, there is a major and increasing body of literature on human interaction with fire as an essential element of the living environment, and as historians put it, “born of life on earth at least 400 million years ago” (Martin 2013, p. 68). As the Martin (2013, p. 68) puts it, “life itself develops and sustains fire’s existence; it also supplies the oxygen fire breathes, furnishes the energy that feeds it and overpoweringly applies the ignition, which sparks it into existence.” More than just being a chemical reaction, fire is also an aspect of the cultural ecology of life on this earth. In Australia, for instance, studies on such cultural ecology has essentially analysed Aboriginal practices before the coming of the settlers, building on the work of significant scholars such as Rhys Jones. Since then, research has focused specifically on Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, whereby critics have confirmed a degree of permanence between the ethnographic present, as well as the pre-colonial and even the pre-historical past (Andersen, Cook & Williams 2003, p. 23). As these along with other scholars have long argued, Australia’s northern landscape is heavily ‘socialised by fire’ (Craig 1999, p. 41). The Aboriginal culture maintained a complex scheme of fire management. Some scholars have dubbed such fire management as a ‘momentous achievement.’ Fire was considered as an ally that took a quantum leap when it came to transforming the face of Australia (Martin 2013, p. 68). As researchers have argued, colonial settlement greatly impacted traditional burning exercises together with each and every other element of Aboriginal life as individuals were relocated from their ancestral homes plus their sophisticated cultural life was altered (Dyer 2001, p. 13). Notwithstanding such interruption, (Howard 2002, p. 25) claims that the historic Aboriginal accomplishment of fire management offers a model for effective practice these days (Martin 2013, p. 67). Persuaded by concerns regarding the failure of western management and science to deal with the ecosystem degradation, as well as species loss, individuals are analysing the deep ecological comprehensions together with the management practices, which have guided indigenous utilisation of natural resources for millennia for different techniques of sustainably overseeing the globe’s natural resources (McGregor et al 2010, p. 722). On to the thesis, this paper will review the fire management practices and conflicts in northern Australia. It will discuss the objectives and implementation of fire management by major land users in northern Australia and outline common ground and potential conflicts between these. Fire Management Practices The Objectives of Burning for Aboriginal People, Pastoral Land Managers and Conservation/Biodiversity Land Managers Aboriginal people utilised a multifaceted fire management method referred to as "fire-stick farming," which helped protect peoples’ fire-prone nation from wildfires (Merleau-Ponty 2009, p. 58). When the Aboriginal people first arrived in northern Australia maybe over 50,000 years ago, they discovered an environment developed by fires sparked through lightning at the period of year when the nation was most combustible when the dry season began paving way for the wet season. The Aboriginal culture changed the pattern, creating multifaceted fire-stick management movements (NNTT 2010, p. 67). Goals and objectives of comprise of attracting wallabies and kangaroos to trapping and flushing out small game, re-sprouting perennial grasses, as well as enhancing the growth of valued plants like water chestnut, a well-admired food of magpie geese (Norton 2000, p. 1029). Each and every year, this fire management developed an environmentally varied mosaic of unburnt and burnt vegetation. It also implied, significantly, that fires began through lightning at the fall of the dry season would flame less violently and over much smaller regions than would otherwise be the issue (Parr & Andersen 2006, p. 1610). Fire, plus management of stocking rates, is the key tool vital for land management in northern Australia. The rangelands in northern Australia comprise of numerous sectoral interests with diverse management goals, such as government-run reserves managed mainly for biodiversity, pastoral terrains run mainly for sustainable animal production, as well as native land run for sustainable production of resources (symbolising biodiversity management on a landscape scale) and for heritage and cultural objectives (Rossiter et al. 2010, p. 160). The exploitation of fire can be planned to meet many land management goals in these sectors, for instance, to make the most of biodiversity, to guard culturally significant sites or fire sensitive habitats, to manage forested weeds, and to enhance pastoral productivity (Rossiter et al. 2010, p. 160). Whether The Aims/Objectives, and Timing and Application of Fire Sometimes Differ within a Land-Use Group The fire regime at any place echoes the order of individual fires, which have taken place in northern Australia, including the timing and characteristics of each fire. The aims/objectives, timing and application of fire sometimes significantly differ within a land-use group. Most of Australia’s rangelands are situated in the wet-dry, semi-arid and arid interior fire/climate regions. In the wet-dry tropical savanna region, fires can transpire annually (Norton 2000, p. 1030). Each wet season is accumulation of fuels (basically herbs and grasses) all over the landscape. Each and every dry season, the fuels calm, and there are phases of moderate-to-severe fire weather. Also, ignition can transpire each year, either through lightning or people (NNTT 2010, p. 68). In the savannas, fires take place in the dry season months from May to November, at times, going up to December. In the arid and semi-arid interior, fires occur at regular intervals, normally at decadal breaks in the arid interior (Merleau-Ponty 2009, p. 59). Here, prolonged fires only take place after times of extraordinary growth when permanence of fuel is went up through increase of annuals among spinifex hummocks, as an influence of rare and irregular years of over-average precipitation (McGregor et al 2010, p. 723). The hot and dry climate enhances curing of fuels each and every year. In the arid interior, fires normally occur in spring-summer time (September–January) (McGregor et al 2010, p. 723). People in these two regions normally differ in their objectives and also the timing of their fires mainly because of the seasons. How the Approach Taken to Burning Differs Among Groups Fire regimes are settled by the human, biological and physical traits of the landscape—the prospect of ignition, the prospect of the fire spreading all over the landscape, and fuel and weather traits (Howard 2002, p. 30). A spectrum of diverse fire regimes is achievable in a majority of ecosystems, echoing distinctions in the size, number and circumstances (for instance, weather) of individual fires. The timeframes between fires are a significant element of fire regimes, which are not essentially clear to the naked eye (Martin 2013, p. 68). Therefore, historical records of fire are overly significant (for instance, mapping fires utilising remote sensing) for documenting periodic patterns of fire. At a landscape-scale level, each and every fire regime element will display disparity, and the character of this disparity will have significant ecological implications (Dyer 2001, p. 27). Spatial disparities in fire regime elements can be articulated in numerical terms (e.g. variance and mean of area or section of a landscape impacted by varying levels of each element) (Andersen et al. 2003, p. 23). In some land-use groups such as pastoralists, management can affect them through alterations to rates of fuel quantity (for instance, through grazing), ignition and spread of fires through prevention and suppression acts. The implications of diverse management strategies and activities on these groups are multifaceted, partly known and reliant on local factors. Ignition sources differ—fires might arise from lightning, or be accidentally or deliberately lit by individuals (Andersen et al. 2003, p. 23). Once lit, the spread of fire relies on fuel moisture, slope, and weather (wind, humidity and temperature). Fuels— its moisture content, the amount of fuel, height, composition and continuity—are significant factors of fire behaviour. Fuel loads have to be comprehended to assess the risk, as well as likely intensity of natural fires or for intending for prescribed burning (Andersen et al. 2003, p. 24). Fire Management Conflict Customarily, since there are distinctions in values, views of the landscape and methods of fire management, there is normally conflict connection to the endeavour (Rossiter 2003, p.169). The views of different landscape set out in different cultures emphasise ‘difference’, and this might create varying interests. Often, there is a lack of comprehension between groups caused by conflicting aims and ignorance for burning (Rossiter 2003, p.169). The Types of Regimes That Land Uses Aim For Bushfire is particularly significant in Australia, where most of the vegetation has developed in the presence of normal fires provoked by the Aboriginal exercise of firestick farming. Because of this, elements of the vegetation are tailored to, and rely on, a specific fire-regime, and their endurance is influenced by disturbance of that fire regime (Rossiter 2003, p.169). A case is seen in the many Banksia species which are both serotinous and fire-sensitive; these species are destroyed by fire, but also the fire provoked the liberation of seed, making sure that they will continue to exist. In a normal fire regime, a plant, which recruits following a fire, will have enough time to mature and develop a sufficiently large bank of seed prior to the fire, which will kill it and also trigger another seed release (Parr & Andersen 2006, p. 1616). Fire regimes have differed in due course in Australia. The wetter, rainforest-covered terrain of 45 million years ago dried off as it shifted northwards after the disintegration of Gondwanaland; vegetation shifted to a sclerophyll-covered flora in numerous areas, and the level and rate of fires gone up (Merleau-Ponty 2009, p. 34). Episodic climatic changes develop drier phases with recurring extensive fires, and reduction of the level of susceptible plant communities (McGregor et al 2010, p. 725). Potential Problems Fire Escapes from Conservation Reserve to a Neighboring Pastoral or Aboriginal Freehold Area Might Cause Whereas fires might cause fatality of individual animals, the indirect implications are more vital for the persistence of a species in a particular area and this is caused if a fire escapes from conservation reserve to a neighboring pastoral or aboriginal freehold (Martin 2013, p. 81). Fauna reacts to differences in vegetative cover. Some species need fairly dense cover for shelter whereas others are highly favoured by slightly open conditions. Such conditions cause some pastoralists to lose their animals and others do not. Animals, which rely on seeds for food, might be strongly impacted by fire escapes from conservation reserve to a neighboring pastoral or aboriginal freehold (Howard 2002, p. 25). Likewise, animals that utilise hollows in trees for nesting and shelter are affected by the size of hollows, as well as their rates of loss and formation – procedures that are responsive to fire interval and intensity. Fire season might affect different biological reactions to an individual fire event (for instance, breeding in animals, flowering in plants) (Craig 1999, p. 62). The implications of particular fire regimes might differ strongly among cultures due to contrasting cultures life history attributes or characteristics. A significant culture attribute is the ability of that culture to reestablish themselves following a fire, or reliance on others for post-fire reestablishment. Specific combinations of traits could represent functional types (NNTT 2010, p. 45). How the Aims of Burning Differ and Can They Be Reconciled Strategic objectives in northern Australia are ambiguous. Most land management organisations have stated goals, but they are frequently ambiguous. Problems comprise of a lack of prioritisation of likely competing goals, unclear definitions, and perplexity with operational objectives (Martin 2013, p. 89). Therefore, what needs to be done in this section is setting unambiguous objectives for managing these fires. They need to prioritise on their goals and set clear and simple definitions and operational objectives. Another issue is that knowledge is obtained through beliefs, tradition, as well as personal experience. Information flow from the scientific community to land managers is overly poor, plus the state with fire management is no exemption (Martin 2013, p. 89). The sources of information employed by a majority of fire managers in northern Australia are comparable to those adapted by pastoralists, the other key land managers in the area: (i) tradition – information conveyed from predecessors; (ii) beliefs - depending on "intuitive" and "gut feeling" comprehension of the environment; as well as (iii) personal experience – rooted mainly in the visual appearance of the area under management (Martin 2013, p. 89). A recommendation would be for the current land managers to look to new ways to deal with fire management because the tradition methods are not so effective. Finally, historic knowledge is widely utilized and new knowledge broadly is resisted. Individuals who manage land are normally reluctant to transform old practices and embrace contemporary information (Martin 2013, p. 90). This syndrome can be an overly strong one and such pressures to rely on old practices are not beneficial to good science (CITATION). Australia should seek to incorporate fresh knowledge when it comes to fire management across the northern region for the long term benefit of the region. References Andersen, A N, Cook, G D & Williams, R J 2003, Synthesis: fire, In: Ecology and Adaptive Conservation Management (A N Andersen, G D Cook, & R J Williams, eds), Springer-Verlag, New York. Craig, A B 1999, Fire management of rangelands in the Kimberley low-rainfall zone: a review, Rangeland Journal vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 39-70. Dyer, R, Jacklyn, P, & Partridge, I et al. 2001, Savanna burning: understanding and using fire in northern Australia, Tropical Savannas CRC, Darwin. Howard, T 2002, Exotic grasses and fire, in: Savanna Burning: Understanding and Using Fire in Northern Australia (R Dyer, P Jacklyn, I Partidge, J Russell-Smith and R J Williams, eds), p. 25, Tropical Savannas CRC, Darwin. Martin R J 2013, Sometime a fire: re-imagining elemental conflict in northern Australia’s gulf country, Australian Humanities Review vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 67-91. McGregor, S et al 2010, ‘Indigenous wetland burning: conserving natural and cultural resources in Australia’s world heritage-listed Kakadu national park,’ Human Ecology vol. 38, pp. 721-729. Merleau-Ponty, M 1962, Phenomenology of perception, Routledge, London. National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT), 2010, Gangalidda and Garawa people’s native title determination, National Native Title Tribunal, Sidney. Norton, B G 2000, ‘Biodiversity and environmental values: in search of a universal earth ethic.’ Biodiversity and Conservation vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 1029-1044. Parr, C L & Andersen A N 2006, ‘Patch Mosaic burning for biodiversity conservation: a critique of the pyrodiversity paradigm,’ Conservation Biology vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1610-1619. Rossiter, N A, Setterfield, S A, & Douglas, M M et al. 2003, Testing the grass-fire cycle: alien grass invasion in the tropical savannas of northern Australia, Diversity and Distributions vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 169-176. Read More