fire management

Celebrating Wattle Day

Today is the first day of spring in Australia, a day we celebrate nationally as Wattle Day. It is the time of the year when some wattles flower producing an abundance of yellow inflorescence. One of the 1,070 wattle species is our floral emblem – the golden wattle (Acacia pycantha). It had to outcompete the …

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What does a forester do? (Part 2)

Because the forestry profession is far from simple and the work highly variable, I have tried to describe what a forester does by outlining the development of the profession in Australia. In Part 1, I outlined the broad principles of forestry and the development of the forestry profession up until WWII. For this second part …

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Fraser Island afire from stem to stern

Unconfirmed reports from seagoing fishing parties suggest that Fraser Island is again suffering considerably as a result of bushfires which some say are raging from the island’s “stem” to its “stern.” Maryborough Chronicle, Tuesday 5 February 1952 I have decided to bring this blog forward ahead of others I have already written for several reasons. Firstly, …

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From Cania Gorge to the highlands of Tasmania and lots of places in between – the mismanagement of Australia’s forests

While on a bushwalk through Cania Gorge National Park near Monto last June, I tended to do what I always do. I studied the forest around me as I walked up a particular gully off the main gorge and looked for clues about the history of the forest and its condition. Since the mid-1990s, governments …

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