Sharon Fulcher, Owner of Two Rivers Catchment Reserve
This a story of devastating fires. Fires that have impacted personal life, communities and our natural environment, the silent casualties – plants and animals.
Read More “How private conservation is assisting our burnt bush”
Sue Baker, Mid North Coast Branch
This time last year we were celebrating 40 years of bush regeneration work by the Mid North Coast Branch at Crowdy Bay. In December 2019 the area was hit by devastating fires, which also destroyed the new hut facilities at Kylie’s Beach. There is, however, good to come from the ashes. This year’s bush regen camp will be able to make a strong impact on previously difficult to access weed infestations.
The following article first appeared in the Mod North Coast Branch newsletter. This version has additions from Sue Baker.
Gary Dunnett, Executive Officer, National Parks Association of NSW
Fire has played a central role in human history, an essential part of the tool kit that enabled a naked ape to spread across the globe. We are all linked by our individual experiences of fire, from an infant’s wonder to the shared pleasure of sitting around a campfire. Fire has influenced human history far beyond our individual experiences. In Australia, more so than anywhere else in the world, fire has shaped the landscape, vegetation communities and species. The arrival of humanity on this continent coincided with a sharp increase in fire frequency and a broad trend towards more fire tolerant vegetation types.
Read More “The bits that didn’t burn -NSW’s unburnt parks as biodiversity arks”
Ian Brown, Environmental consultant and former national park manager (6 December 2019)
Note: an earlier version of this article first appeared in the Colong Bulletin no. 277, December 2019
As I write (on 6 December), fires in the north and south of the Blue Mountains are merging into mega-fires, driven by severe dryness, strong winds and parched air. Forty per cent of the million-hectare Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area has burnt so far. Millions of people are smothering in smoke. North-eastern NSW has already seen devastation. The NSW toll stands at six lives, more than 500 houses and over two million hectares. Already. Numerous wilderness areas and conservation reserves have been impacted, with many national parks burnt completely. Key koala populations have been decimated and ancient rainforests burnt (at least their edges and at ground level). There is no doubt this is the biggest fire season in the recorded (white) history of the state. And it will get worse before it rains.
Roger Lembit, Ecologist
The National Parks of the Blue Mountains, which form the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, have been the site of extensive and unprecedented bushfires, which have raised concern internationally about the status of these parks.
Kevin Evans, Interim President NPA Coffs Coast Branch
The Great Koala National Park has been one of NPA’s priority campaigns for the last 6 years. The idea was born at the Bellingen Environment Centre (BEC) as their logical local response to the Koala Crisis. NPA and BEC stalwart Ashley Love, helped identify 175,000 hectares of State Forest that would be added to existing protected areas in the Coffs Harbour Hinterland to form a new 315,000 Great Koala National Park. At that point these forests were thought to be home for 20% of the NSW Koala population.
Read More “Launch of the Great Koala National Park Information and Visitor Centre”
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