Fire and biodiversity: The importance of fire in the landscape

The last workshop in the second series of Land for Wildlife workshops was the Fire for Healthy Habitat workshop held on 9 June 2018. The workshop, attended by 12 people, consisted of a presentation covering key theoretical elements of the importance and impacts of fire followed by a tour of local bushland.

At the workshop, facilitator Andy Baker, an experienced ecologist and bushfire specialist, described a number of different ecosystems on the Tweed Coast. He explained that fire regimes – the characteristics of individual fires and their cumulative effects on the landscape over many years – play a crucial role in shaping these ecosystems including the abundance and distribution of particular plant and animal species.

Presenter Andy Baker said that vegetation types such as heath and woodland contain many plant and animal species that are not only tolerate fire but require it for their survival. Many native plants have adaptations which enable them to survive fire. Many animals seek recently-burnt habitat because it provides preferred food and shelter. For example, some birds are known to quickly move into brunt areas of bushland because it is much easier to move around and forage for food in a sparse, open understorey. As time passes and the habitat continues to recover, vegetation re-growth and the germination of new shrubs literally fills in the understorey making it difficult for the birds to move freely enough to successfully forage for food.

Andy said that some areas of bushland that depend on fire are not being burnt as regularly as they should. One consequence of this is that rainforest plant species, most of which are fire-intolerant, are able to colonise new areas and begin displacing fire-dependent species that thrived until the fire regime changed. This influx of rainforest species has the potential to radically alter the local mix of plant and animal species and threatens the viability of some of our precious heath and woodland ecosystems.

Participants went on a tour of bushland that had been burnt around one year ago. The effects of fire on heath, woodland and wetlands were discussed. The workshop also covered approval processes and permits for burns on private land as well as a community-based training program enabling landholders develop a property fire management plan.