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NSW releases Cultural Fire Strategy to support Aboriginal-led burning
Dan Morgan uses a cultural burn to thin out the understorey of wattle growing back after a bushfire. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
In short:
The NSW government has released its first Cultural Fire Strategy, which commits to removing barriers that have hampered cultural burning across the state.
The strategy was created in response to the recommendations of the 2020 NSW Bushfire Inquiry.
What's next?
The strategy commits to resolving issues around regulations and approval processes, insecure funding and insurance costs over the next two to three years.
Southern Yuin cultural fire practitioner Dan Morgan guides a gentle fire through bushfire-scarred forest at the Murrah on the NSW far south coast.
"After the bushfires that we've been getting, you need a little fire like this to protect the biodiversity of the landscape," he said.
Dan Morgan says a cultural burn will not harm the soil or native grasses. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
Standing a few metres away is property owner David Dixon, who first became interested in cultural burning a few years before the Coolagolite bushfire destroyed his home and scorched thousands of hectares of surrounding forest in October 2023.
David Dixon watches the cultural burn on his property. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
"I'm on a very steep curve of learning," he said, watching the knee-high flames trickle through his heavily forested property.
Three years of good rainfall have brought green back to the landscape, but wattle has begun to dominate the understorey.
Dan Morgan says a thick understorey of wattle adds a dangerous fuel load to the forest as it recovers from bushfire. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
Left untreated, it will double in size in another two to three years and link up to the tree canopy, adding an explosive fuel load to the forest.
According to Mr Morgan, a small fire now will thin out the wattle without damaging the soil and native grasses.
Dan Morgan says a gentle cultural burn will help thin out the understorey of wattle. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
"It's just a gentle fire at the right time, in the right conditions and the plant species that are meant to be here, it doesn't affect them," he said.
While Mr Dixon is committed to using cultural burns to care for his property, beyond his boundary lies National Parks and State Forest land, where regulations designed to protect native vegetation have limited access for cultural fire practitioners.
Under current environmental planning laws, areas of coastal forest on public land where a bushfire or hazard-reduction burn has occurred within the last seven years cannot be burned again without going through a review process.
David Dixon's property is surrounded by National Park and State Forest land. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
Breaking down the barriers
The regulatory barriers to cultural burning across different land tenures is just one issue addressed in the NSW government's Cultural Fire Strategy, which was released this week.
The strategy was developed in response to the 2020 NSW Bushfire inquiry, which recommended an increased use of Aboriginal land management practices in planning and preparing for bushfire.
It formally acknowledges the expertise of Aboriginal burning practitioners and commits to resolving the impediments to cultural fire practices over the next two to three years.
Those barriers include prohibitive insurance costs, insecure funding and complex approval processes.
NSW Cultural Fire Strategy aims to remove the barriers to expanding cultural burning. (ABC News: Greg Heap)
The strategy commits to a review of the required intervals between burns by 2028, along with recommending changes to streamline environmental approvals.
It also promises to develop an agency grants program to give Aboriginal communities the capacity to undertake cultural monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
The strategy will be reviewed in three years time.
Vanessa Cavanagh says the strategy demonstrates the government's committment to supporting cultural fire. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
Bundjalung and Wonnarua woman Vanessa Cavanah, who has a PhD in gendered dimensions of cultural burning in NSW and is the manager of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) Healthy Country Team, said the strategy brought together multiple government agencies that dealt with fire management and land management.
"I really hope that this strategy gives Aboriginal communities positive momentum to activate their cultural fire activities, as well as demonstrating the government commitment to supporting Aboriginal-led cultural fire," Dr Cavanagh said.
Oliver Costello says a "Western" view of fire has shaped policy and legislation. (Supplied: Lisa Sorgini)
Bundjalung cultural fire practitioner and director of Jagun Alliance Aboriginal Corporation, Oliver Costello, said the next few years will be critical.
"In the six years after the 2019-20 fires, we've really missed the window of opportunity in many parts of the landscape," he said.
"Sadly, in coming years, we're really going to see the consequences of that."
Mr Costello co-authored a 2024 report looking in detail at the legislative obstacles to scaling up cultural burning.
He said a common thread running through environmental legislation and fire policy was the "Western" view of fire — and fire frequency — as a threat.
"But what kind of fire is that based on?" he said.
"The regulations don't really understand our cultural knowledge around the kinship of species, and the ability to use fire to regenerate and suppress different species and make sure there's enough country for all the species that belong there.
"That's our responsibility as custodians and that's what cultural fire teaches us."
Cultural burning promotes soil moisture and a healthier forest system. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
Burning to heal country
A few weeks after the cultural burn on Mr Dixon's property, Xanthorrhoea and native grasses have sprouted and the ash from the fire has added a rich, soft layer to the soil.
Dan Morgan, left, examines Xanthorrhoea reshooting after the cultural burn on David Dixon's property. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
Mr Morgan said cultural burns helped make the landscape more resilient to bushfire, not simply by reducing the fuel load, but by helping retain soil moisture and supporting the health of the entire forest system.
"It's the traditional fire regime of Australia that's been practised for thousands and thousands of years," he said.
Dan Morgan says cultural burns help make the land more resilient. (ABC South East NSW: Vanessa Milton)
"We can only unlock this knowledge by being on country practising it, and observing how the land responds."