Fire management planning expands

As the Cape York Peninsula heads towards the dry season, Cape York NRM is busy organising its annual fire management planning and coordination workshops for the coming months.

“This year we hope to hold three workshops - in the North (Moreton), Centre (Coen) and South (Lakelands/Cooktown),” Cape York NRM Fire Coordinator Andrew Drenen said.

“The aim is to bring various stakeholders together to plan fire management activities, rather than them all doing their own thing. 

“It’s a great way to discuss methodology - drawing from the latest science as well as the more traditional cultural knowledge -  and how we can achieve more by working with everyone from Indigenous ranger groups, private reserves (Steve Irwin sanctuary & Piccaninny Plains), Queensland Parks & Wildlife, Property stations, Cape York fire management consultants, and Rio Tinto.

“It’s a support network and resource-sharing opportunity.” 

The group has been meeting annually for about six years to coordinate early dry season burns to reduce the risk of more severe, destructive wildfires that come later in the later months, as well as the deliberately lit fires which plague the region.

Methods include aerial incendiary burning, to establish fire breaks across the landscape, as well as patchwork or mosaic burns to concentrate on areas that have heavy fuel loads. 

Ultimately, the early burns can protect property such as homesteads and Indigenous cultural assets, wildlife and the environment, generally, for example, by reducing soil erosion and run-off to waterways which can wash out into the Great Barrier Reef.

The other key reason for “cool”, small and targeted early burns is to reduce carbon emissions, for Carbon Capture projects, under the Federal Government's Savanna burning program, which are growing in number across the Cape.

Which is why Cape York NRM has expanded the number of workshops this year. 

“We have a major new stakeholder in the Coen region, as three more stations have been purchased by Paniri Agricultural Co, an arm of Corporate Carbon Group,” Andrew said. 

The group also bought the Watson River Station back in September. The first workshop will be held in Coen on Wed 3rd May at the Coen Town Hall. The Northern and southern workshops are being finalised. 

Andrew will also be presenting at the Mount Molloy Fire Forum and Field Day being held by Gulf Savannah NRM on April 18 and 19.

The Regional Fire Planning Project is supported by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust 7 Program