New calls to change the way controlled burns are managed in Western Australia

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Critics of the Western Australian government's prescribed burn programs say a recently lit fire in bushland on the state's south coast should be used as an example for all future burns.  Hundreds of hectares were set ablaze under cool conditions to reduce damage to flora and fauna. It's sparked new calls for a change to the way controlled burns are managed.

Transcript

00:00On WA's south coast, a burnt landscape returning to life.

00:06Burnt and unburnt and then you come into the gullies and stuff is still flowering.

00:11There's plenty of habitat for the ringtail, possums.

00:15A hand-lit burn was conducted in May.

00:17The cooler weather reduced the damage.

00:19Too often I've seen burns in the national parks where there's been such concern that

00:25they will actually go in the air and bomb out every little patch of green.

00:30It's really refreshing to see a prescribed burn where we've got this result and there's

00:36a lot of vegetation in the valleys.

00:40The Cape Howe National Park spans about 3,500 hectares between Albany and Denmark.

00:45The government has been managing regular burns here over the last decade to control bushfires.

00:49The 350 hectare burn in May has won over critics.

00:52I did praise them on the management plan for this park in the way that they only burn

00:57small strips of the landscape every couple of years.

01:01A mixed reaction from the department responsible.

01:04That was our intention for this burn from the outset in the landscape that we're operating

01:08in, to try and achieve the values and protect the values, both the biodiversity values and

01:13the community values that sit inside there.

01:15It's prompted a call for this approach to be employed across the state.

01:18It made it pretty clear that this is the kind of burning that should be going on.

01:22While the outcomes of the burn here on the state's south coast have been welcomed by critics

01:26of the government's prescribed burning program, the department responsible says the same approach

01:30won't be taken where different methods are required.

01:33If as you move further inland or into the more heavily timbered country, a different style

01:39quality is required and different timing.

01:41A considered approach to a contentious issue.

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