The myth that not enough has been done to manage bushland to mitigate bushfire risk has persisted

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

As disastrous bushfires continue to grip much of the country, causing loss of lives and homes, claims persist that not enough has been done to manage bushland to mitigate fire risk.

One frequent claim is that the “locking up” of national parks has somehow contributed to the increased bushfire risk this season, rather than prolonged dry and hot weather and the influence of climate change.

The New South Wales deputy premier, John Barilaro, used this language in November, arguing that the fires showed the “locking up” of bushland and “green-left ideology” had failed. In the Australian newspaper this week, the climate change denier Maurice Newman wrote that entries to parks were commonly “blocked by boulders or chains and padlocks” and fire trails were “so overgrown that a sign identifying them is all that distinguishes them from the rest of the forest”.

What does ‘locked up’ mean?

Ross Bradstock is the director of the Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires at the University of Wollongong.

He says the use of this language in relation to national parks is a “very tired and very old conspiracy that is always regurgitated and it’s always found to be wanting in the wash-up after the fires”.

National parks are sometimes physically chained or gated, for reasons such as preventing 4WDs from entering and damaging tourist trails. At other times parks may be closed for the safety of the public during bushfires.

To say the fires are due to national parks being locked up would be an incorrect statement. RFS spokesman

In some parks, there are seasonal closures to ensure roads don’t become eroded and damaged during the winter.

None of this prevents fire crews from entering parks. The NSW Rural Fire Service says local trucks often have keys to allow them access.

“To say the fires are due to national parks being locked up would be an incorrect statement,” an RFS spokesman says.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service says some fire trails are secured by gates if they are in an area where there is known to be a high risk of arson.

“All of these trails remain accessible to emergency services,” a spokesman says. “The RFS, along with other emergency services, has direct access to all NPWS fire trails.”

Are fire trails overgrown?

A lot of Australia’s national parks occupy large areas of land that cover remote bushland. There are mapped networks of roads for activities including fire management, other types of park management and recreation.

Chris Hardman, the chief fire officer at Forest Fire Management in Victoria, says that since 2017 more than 6,935km of access roads have been “improved or maintained” in public reserves in that state. Another 2,795km are planned for 2019-20. This work keeps trails clear for emergency crews during bushfires, and for visitors.

“Any claim that the Victorian government has locked up national parks is just not true,” Hardman says. “We’ve got strategic fire networks that are mapped and maintained.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, has incorrectly claimed the bushfires show the ‘locking up’ of bushland has failed. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Bradstock lives near the edge of national park in the NSW Blue Mountains, where fires have torn through massive amounts of bushland.

“I don’t see any overgrown trails,” he says. “As a matter of fact, where I am at the moment, the crews have used these trails to put containment in which has been fantastically successful.”

Is there a less literal meaning behind these claims?

A separate line of argument links with the debunked claims that opposition to hazard reduction burns has somehow contributed to the national disaster, suggesting that management of national parks generally has contributed to the devastation.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service says it undertook 75% of all hazard reduction burning in the state over the past four years. This includes 137,500 ha of hazard reduction last year, with a five-year rolling average target of 135,000 ha.

Hazard reduction burning is highly dependent on weather conditions. In 2019, the prolonged drought and heat has reduced the ability to safely carry out hazard reduction burns in some areas. The window in which to safely conduct this kind of fuel management is narrowing because of the effects of climate change.

In Victoria, Hardman says, “we planned to burn 246,396 hectares of public land in 2019, but were unable to do so because it would have been unsafe”.

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He says, based on advice from emergency services agencies and communities, and taking into account the longer bushfire season, fuel reduction was carried out across 142,078 hectares of public land.

All fuel management in the state, including hazard reduction burning and mechanical work such as slashing and mowing, is done on a risk-based approach rather than a hectare-based target.

It is informed by members of an expert scientific panel on fuel management that advised the 2009 Victoria bushfires royal commission. It is getting harder to find enough days for safe hazard reduction burning.

“The suggestion we’re not prepared to undertake planned burns is wrong and anyone claiming it is either misinformed or deliberately spreading misinformation,” Hardman says.

What is the point of national parks anyway?

The purpose of national parks is to protect Australia’s unique flora and fauna and items of cultural heritage. Experts say that will become more crucial after this disaster.

National parks are also an important drawcard for tourists, both domestically and from overseas.

There have been calls from the timber industry for more logging and thinning in national parks. David Lindenmayer, a landscape ecology expert from the Australian National University, says this would actually increase the bushfire risk and make parks less safe.

He says logging makes forests more prone to “crown-scorching” fires that get into the tree canopy and burn at higher severity, and that studies have found thinning increases fire risk by elevating fuel loads, drying the understorey and increasing wind incursion.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Damage in the Flinders Chase national park after bushfires swept through Kangaroo Island. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP

“The notion that thinning will make them less fire prone is garbage,” he says.

Lindenmayer says he is a “strong believer” that national parks need to be managed.

“It’s really important that the investment in national parks brings more people to these areas,” he says. “It’s the reason a lot of people come to Australia.”

The NSW Parks and Wildlife service says locals visit national parks 60m times a year, and this is expected to grow.

Visits have also grown in Victoria, from 42.33m in 2016-17 to 49.63m in 2018-19.

Are the fires a national parks problem?

It should go without saying, but the millions of hectares burned across the country so far this season are not restricted to national parks. They have burned across all types of land tenure, including farm land, private land, urban tenure, state forest and crown land.

David Bowman, the director of the Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania’s school of natural sciences, says the focus on national parks is misguided.

“Why are people fixating on national parks when there are so many other landscapes that are bushland which are not national parks?” he says. “I think it’s distracting to be focused on one land tenure type. Broaden the conversation to bushland and then understand the operations to manage bushland are complicated. It’s not just about planned burning.”

Bowman says there is scope for discussion about how bushland is managed across different types of land tenure and has written that there may be a greater role for community groups.

But he says there is also “a lot of misapprehension” about fuel management.

“For example, fuel management can’t be applied to all vegetation types,” Bowman says. “There’s only certain types where it’s practically possible.”