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WoodChat ep 27: minimising the impact of bushfire events

The latest episode of FWPA’s WoodChat podcast series dives into a recently completed FWPA-supported research project aimed at increasing the industry’s capacity to minimise the impact of future bushfire events.

This work focuses on updating fuel accumulation and fire spread models for Australian forestry plantations.

The research was led by Dr Kate Parkins of the University of Melbourne’s School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences FLARE (FLAmes to REgimes) Wildfire Research Group. Dr Parkins is interviewed at length during the episode.

“A better understanding of how fuel accumulates over time in plantations means improved performance of fire behaviour simulators and, in turn, more accurate predictions of fire risk for plantation owners,” said Parkins.

“Our results indicate that fuel loads have previously been under-predicted at key times during a rotation. This suggests that, in some cases, landscape-scale fire risk in areas with plantations may also have been underestimated.

“As part of our research, we explored future fire risk across different growing regions and under different climate projections. This enabled us to quantify where in the landscape and under what conditions fire risk will be at its highest.

“This information can be used by plantation owners to guide strategic fuel management and minimise future fire risk,” said Parkins.

In addition to Dr Parkins’ work, hosts Sam and Georgia provide a round-up of other interesting projects focuses on bushfire mitigation and management happening around Australia.

Listeners will hear from David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science at the University of Tasmania, about a sophisticated fire detection camera known as FireHawk.

Rodney Carter, CEO of the Dja Dja Wurrung Group, talks about the organisation’s focus on and promotion of traditional, cultural, and cool burning practices as a means of mitigating bushfire risk.

And Dr Kevin Tolhurst AM, Principal Fellow of the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at the University of Melbourne speaks on the development of an Australian bushfire management framework.

Hear all that and more by checking out this latest episode. WoodChat is available to listen and download through SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.

Posted Date: February 21, 2023

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