AS THE flames of Australia鈥檚 worst bush fires in eight years die down,
argument is hotting up over how to prevent such costly fires breaking out
again.
Government scientists and farmers say regular and deliberate burning of New
South Wales鈥檚 wild areas would stop fires running rampant. But many
environmental groups are opposed to such burns, saying they would reduce
biodiversity. The NSW government is now feeling the heat from both sides.
鈥淓veryone knows it would make no sense at all to just go along and burn the
broad acres of bush on a regular basis, because that would destroy the
biodiversity,鈥� says Bob Debus, the emergency services minister for NSW. 鈥淥n the
other hand, there is a stream of thought which says `burn the bugger every four
years no matter what鈥�.鈥� In the wake of the fires, the government is giving
firefighters sweeping powers to forcibly burn national parks, backyards and
forests if they perceive them to be a hazard.
Advertisement
Phil Cheney of the research organisation CSIRO, who has been studying
wildfire management for 20 years, is convinced that frequent prescribed burns
would not only reduce the damage done by wildfires, but also restore the
landscape to its pre-colonial glory. He claims environmentalists are refusing to
acknowledge the science. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a range of people who want their national
parks untouched by human hand in any way,鈥� he says.
At the root of the argument is a dispute over how Australia鈥檚 landscape
formed. Flora and fauna have evolved to resist bushfires, which raged long
before humans arrived. But there is evidence that the fires became more frequent
once there were people around, leading to a savannah-like landscape in parts of
NSW. 鈥淭o look at the land today you鈥檇 say that just couldn鈥檛 be,鈥� says Cheney.
鈥淔or it to be open and grassy there has to be an annual burning programme.鈥�
But environmentalists like Glen Klatovsky, at the Wilderness Society based in
Hobart, Tasmania, believe prescribed burning may work in populated areas, but it
would devastate ecosystems that are so far undisturbed. 鈥淭he problem is that the
authorities are likely to take it too far.鈥� He says natural wet forests should
be encouraged to grow alongside dry forests, to slow the spread of fires.
The influential farming lobby has also weighed in. When a fire escaped from
the Goobang National Park earlier last month it scorched almost 14,000 hectares
of farmland, killed 5000 sheep and destroyed around 140 kilometres of fencing,
says NSW Farmers鈥� Association chairman Mal Peters. He blames the government for
failing to prevent the fires, and is encouraging farmers to sue if it does not
offer compensation.