The 2019-20 bushfires were not made worse by logging but by three years of below-average rainfall which led to an abundance of overly dry vegetation, a study has found. The report, The severity and extent of the Australia 2019–20 Eucalyptus forest fires are not the legacy of forest management just published in the Nature Ecology and Evolution Journal, was authored by a team of researchers led by Professor David Bowman from the University of Tasmania. Source: Timberbiz
“Since the Black Summer fires a number of activists have tried to link sustainable forest harvesting to bushfire severity,” Australian Forest Products Association CEO Ross Hampton said.
“Last year one of those attempts, using what the Australian Senate called ‘bodgy science’, led to a journal article being retracted and an investigation launched into the research methods used by its authors.
“This landmark report and its findings should be the catalyst for this war of words to come to an end and allow all sides to focus on combating climate change.
“Those who want to shutdown sustainable native forestry in Australia are at odds with the global environmental leaders who know we need more, not less, fibre from sustainably managed estates like ours where only six trees out of 10,000 are harvested and every tree used is replaced by law.”
Institute of Foresters of Australia and Australian Forest Growers president Bob Gordon said the study highlighted the need for new ways of thinking about how Australia manages the risk of bushfires.
“There’s no doubt Australia has a wicked bushfire problem. There is no quick fix to this problem, however active and adaptive forest management, across all land tenures is paramount to ensuring our forests are resilient to fire in the future,” Mr Gordon said.
“Some commentators opposed to timber harvesting have tried to use bushfire disasters as a lever to end native forest harvesting, but it’s clear that to move forward we need to move past the era of conflict and focus on what we can do to prevent, prepare and manage our forests to best withstand future catastrophic events,” he said.
“Active and adaptive land management across all land tenures, long-term thinking and the use of a range of techniques informed by the latest science and long-held cultural knowledge from Traditional Owners is what’s needed to make sure we can mitigate devastation such as that seen in 2019-20.
“We also need to establish new shared governance models and an approach to policy that brings together government agencies with Indigenous Australians and stakeholders from the private sector and civil society across all tenures.
“Through these strategies, we can conserve forests for a broader range of values, and proactively manage current pressures and increasing threats from climate change and the interrelated impacts of bushfires and invasive species.”
IFA/AFG member and one of the paper’s authors, Professor Rodney Keenan said there was little evidence timber harvesting contributed to the severity of the Black Summer fires and, therefore, future policy needs to reflect that.
“Policy proposals to mitigate fire risks and impacts should be evidence-based and integrate multiple perspectives,” Professor Keenan said.
“Traditional Indigenous knowledge, experience of local and professional fire managers, and the breadth of evidence from bushfire research should inform strategies for reducing bushfire impacts and increasing forest resilience and community.”
