The new plan is intended to protect against another fire of the century

Although winter has ended on the fifth continent, fire season has already begun in Australia’s dry heartland. Half of Tjoritja West MacDonnell National Park west of Alice Springs has already burned this year. Other parts of the country also fear a new fire season. The devastating fires of 2019/2020 were followed by years of heavy rainfall thanks to three consecutive La Niña phases. By this time both the bush and the grass had grown back in luxuriance. All this now provides plenty of fuel for a new fire.

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In the north of the continent, buffalo grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is widespread, an invasive grass that often causes extensive damage in arid regions of the interior. If this grass dries up during the dry season, a single spark is enough to start a large, massive fire.

An area larger than Germany was burned

“These fires are often overlooked because almost all Australians live near the coast,” Charles Darwin University researcher Rohan Fisher and Indigenous Desert Alliance director Boyd Elston wrote in an article in the journal Education.Conversation“. For example, in 2011, 400,000 square kilometers were burned, an area larger than Germany. This year could be even more dangerous: “The fire service warns that up to 80 percent of the northern region could burn this season,” the two experts said.

For this reason, dozens of indigenous ranger groups have drawn up some sort of general staffing plan. Twelve domestic reserves are currently burning grass and shrubland to reduce fuel loads before the onset of summer heat. So far, indigenous peoples have battled fires covering 23,000 square kilometers in the Great Sandy, Tanami, Gibson and Great Victoria deserts. It may seem absurd at first glance, but the aim is to protect the country from the usually very destructive summer wildfires. “Fire is generally healthy for the country,” Fisher explained in the interview. Many plants in the Australian bush require the heat or smoke of fire to reproduce. So fire is part of good land management. Aboriginal Australians passed this knowledge down through the generations.

A mosaic “painting” with fire

However, the task of the guards is not easy. “The whole thing was hard work in 40-degree heat,” Fisher explained. Additionally, many areas are very remote. Often there are no or very few road connections. So rangers sometimes have to work with helicopters and airplanes. Satellite technology is also used to map areas. This year alone, Rangers have already spent nearly 450 hours in the air, covered nearly 60,000 kilometers and dropped nearly 300,000 incendiary devices.

With controlled fires, rangers ensure that the fire burns grasses and moves across the ground without becoming too intense. Gareth Gade, one of the project managers of the Inland Wilderness Alliance, which coordinates ranger groups, calls it a “cold fire.” These small fires usually go out overnight or when they hit the barrier during the cold and wet winter months. In many small fires, rangers create a kind of mosaic of vegetation at various stages of recovery. This way, there will always be unburned vegetation that will provide a safe haven for wildlife and plants, and areas where vegetation is already growing will “provide particularly valuable food for wildlife,” Kate explained.

Lessons for Europe too

In particular, cultural sites and endangered species such as phillips, night parrots and desert skinks are thus protected. This is especially important because about 60 percent of desert mammal species have already gone extinct in the last 250 years. As Fisher wrote in his academic speech, fire programs don’t just help land and wildlife. The so-called traditional owners of the country, i.e. the indigenous people of their respective regions, will have the opportunity to “know distant lands, practice culture and impart knowledge to younger generations”.

According to Catt, Europe, Canada and the United States can learn from the knowledge accumulated over thousands of years by Australian indigenous peoples. Tribal people have a very close connection with the land and almost “feel an obligation” to look after their tribal areas. From them he learned that fire is “a part of nature” and can be used positively before it becomes destructive – without land management.