Restoring Koala Habitat Through Cultural Burning

So we've tried to, wherever possible, involve First Nations people in the management of the property and in particular with regard to controlling African grasses, introduced cattle grasses.

Once we stop the seeding cycle of those African grasses, then there's every likelihood the native species will bounce out of the ground.

That should hopefully, assist with the regeneration, the natural regeneration of forests in the back half of the property where we're trialling here.

Very significant. With good fire we can increase biodiversity.

We can look after our plants and animals that have evolved with fire and adapted to fire. That's right.

My dad used to tell me he'd go through the forest out here Malters Rd on a horse and salty and I said 'Dad how did you get to the river'.

Look at the shrubs. He said there was no shrub. There was grass growing amongst the big trees right to the riverbank. Beautiful.

So we want to look at our soil like the way we burn soils are really important. You know, you start at the ground. So that's your seed bank.

That's all the organic matter in life. That's where that regeneration is going to come from. So we don't want to burn that hot. We want we want it cool over the top.

We want to leave some of this organic matter behind, not cook all the seed, let time and space for the animals to move away, you know,and with that cool soil moisture there, when that fire travels over this ground, the ground is going to be cool to touch straight away. This was textbook, you know, it was done perfectly. It was carried out perfectly.

And that's a real credit to the traditional knowledge holders here today. Look, it's that connection.

It's truthfully it's a connection to our ancestors. And it reminds us of who we are. So it really brings back that, you know, that belief that our responsibility is to the earth. You know, we all grow up with that.

And when we get out here and look after Earth, it reminds us that we're all one mob. It's an honor to be here today and be part of such a beautiful burn.

It was really good, and it's a really enjoyable day,and I think both groups probably look forward to coming back and meeting again next year.

And the Rural Fire Service guys, they made a point of saying how much they enjoyed working with the First Nation guys and the First Nations guys said how much they enjoyed working with the Rural Fire Service groups.

And I thought, how good's that, you know, and like this is unknown to each other.

Hey Tom. Yes sir. Alright, we we want to make a start on this other one but we're going to need a unit and some layflats. There's actually no control line. On top of that ridge there, we're gonna have to do a wet line.

Yep yep yep. Okay, if we could get help to set that up. Would you like to do that? Yeah. Okay. So look. Your exit.

Yep. Will be up here.... We could light it down about 10 or 15 meters off the fence line, and just and just keep it small. Put it up, put it out. Put it out as we go.

Yeah. That would work - it's just time. You still want to move up to this sector first? Well, I would still hold the sector.

But I think that this is gonna cool off before this does now this afternoon, so it's probably better if we do that. And that was a really good burn that day absolutely went well.

And I noticed too when the RFS were all there. They were a little bit y'know 'where's our role in this' - they didn't really know. And they were sitting back in the trucks. And I was like, come and be involved. You're here too.

And as soon as I got that invite to partake with us, it was forming relationships, good yarn storytelling. I've been involved with firefighting since 1983. Worked on most of the big fires.

This type of fire that was using today's, you know, just nice light, cool fire. It's not impacting on anything.

Australia has always had fire. You know, the landscape was managed with fire pre European settlement.

And our traditional custodians of country looked after country with fire.

And they're cool fires as you know yourself. A cool fire doesn't burn the grass. It singes it.

And within a couple days or a week it's a brand new shoots growing up. Straight up.

Today's end result was about coming together and sharing knowledge for a cool burn to help rejuvenate our landscape.

At the moment this area was just all old paddock grasslands and we want to revitalize this back into the old rainforest that it once was with these cool burns, low intensity burn.

The idea is to keep a low heat fire going across the landscape to protect our environment, our trees, our wildlife, and this little nest here. It's from a grass warbler.

It's a great example - the fire's gone straight out at the top of it, burned all the way around at a low intensity heat.

This is a perfect in condition, intact, with a small singe on top where there was just a bit of dead grass. The nest itself is still wet, and it's a great example of why we do those cool burns. The bird itself has had a chance to escape.

But it's probably not going to come back to this area for a couple of weeks or so yet. So we're not there fighting fires. We're working with fire.

We're using it as a tool on the landscape. That's right. You know, and how empowering, when you can walk with fire without fear of that fire, you know, we can we can be comfortable and yarn and make observations.

We had kids there, walking around with us, we had everybody from me as an elder right down to kids. As an Aboriginal corporation we've already got a fire truck -back up. Just to please the other side of the fence.

Not that we plan to start it, you know. No, no, but we can put him up there then take photos of him while we burn down here without the truck.

Fill him up with water - he might need a drink. Absolutely. (Laughs)