@article {bnh-5654, title = {Climate change effects on the frequency, seasonality and interannual variability of suitable prescribed burning weather conditions in south-eastern Australia}, journal = {Agricultural and Forest Meteorology}, volume = {271}, year = {2019}, month = {06/2019}, chapter = {148-157}, abstract = {

Despite the importance of prescribed burning in contemporary fire management, there is little understanding of how climate change will influence the weather conditions under which it is deployed. We provide quantitative estimates of potential changes in the number of prescribed burning days in coastal NSW in south-eastern Australia, a fire-prone area dominated by dry sclerophyll forests. Burning days are calculated from an objectively designed regional climate model ensemble using three definitions of suitable weather conditions based on: a literature search (Literature), actual weather observed during recorded prescribed burns (Observed) and operational guidelines (Operational). Contrary to some claims, evidence for a decrease in prescribed burning days under projected future climates is weak. We found a complex pattern of changes, with the potential for substantial and widespread increases in the current burning seasons of autumn (March-May) and spring (August-October). Projected changes were particularly uncertain in northern NSW, spanning substantial increases and decreases during autumn. The magnitude of projected changes in the frequency of burning days was highly sensitive to which definition of suitable weather conditions was used, with a relatively small change for the Operational definition (+0.3 to +1.9 days per year across the study area) and larger ranges for the Observed (+0.2 to +7.9 days) and Literature (+1.7 to +6.2 days) definitions. Interannual variability in the number of burning days is projected to increase slightly under projected climate change. Our study highlights the need for a better understanding of the weather conditions required for safe and effective prescribed burning. Our analysis provides practitioners with quantitative information to assess their exposure to a range of potential changes in the frequency, seasonality and variability of prescribed burning weather conditions.

}, keywords = {Burn window, Climate change, Fire weather, Global warming, Hazard reduction, Prescribed burning, prescribed fire}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.03.005}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168192319301091}, author = {Hamish Clarke and Bruce Tran and Matthias M. Boer and Owen Price and Belinda Kenny and Ross Bradstock} } @article {bnh-6854, title = {Cost effectiveness of fire management strategies in southern Australia}, journal = {International Journal of Wildland Fire}, volume = {29}, year = {2019}, month = {06/2019}, pages = {427-439}, abstract = {

Fire-management agencies invest significant resources to reduce the impacts of future fires. There has been increasing public scrutiny over how agencies allocate fire-management budgets and, in response, agencies are looking to use quantitative risk-based approaches to make decisions about expenditure in a more transparent manner. Advances in fire-simulation software and computing capacity of fire-agency staff have meant that fire simulators have been increasingly used for quantitative fire-risk analysis. Here we analyse the cost trade-offs of future fire management in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and surrounding areas by combining fire simulation with Bayesian Decision Networks. We compare potential future-management approaches considering prescribed burning, suppression and fire exclusion. These data combined costs of treatment and impacts on assets to undertake a quantitative risk analysis. The proposed approach for fuel treatment in ACT and New South Wales (NSW) provided the greatest reduction in risk and the most cost-effective approach to managing fuels in this landscape. Past management decisions have reduced risk in the landscape and the legacy of these treatments will last for at least 3 years. However, an absence of burning will result in an increased risk from fire in this landscape.

}, keywords = {Bayesian Network, house loss, life loss, prescribed fire, risk}, doi = { https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18128}, url = {https://www.publish.csiro.au/WF/WF18128}, author = {Trent Penman and Brett Cirulis} } @article {bnh-6673, title = {Planned and unplanned fire regimes on public land in south-east Queensland}, journal = {International Journal of Wildland Fire }, year = {2019}, month = {08/2019}, abstract = {

Land management agencies in Queensland conduct planned burning for a variety of reasons, principally for management of fuels for human asset protection and biodiversity management. Using Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service{\textquoteright}s archived manually derived fire reports, this study considered the individual components of the fire regime (extent, frequency and season) to determine variation between planned and unplanned fire regimes in south-east Queensland. Overall, between 2004 and 2015, planned fire accounted for 31.6\% and unplanned fire 68.4\% of all fire on Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service state-managed land. Unplanned fire was more common in spring (September{\textendash}October), and planned fire was more common in winter (June{\textendash}August). Unplanned fire affected 71.4\% of open forests and woodlands (148 563 ha), whereas 58.8\% of melaleuca communities (8016 ha) and 66.6\% of plantations (2442 ha) were burnt with planned fire. Mapping fire history at a regional scale can be readily done with existing publicly available datasets, which can be used to inform the assessment of planned burning effectiveness for human asset protection and the management of biodiversity. Fire management will benefit from the continued recording of accurate fire occurrence data, which allows for detailed fire regime mapping and subsequent adaptive management of fire regimes in the public domain.

}, keywords = {controlled burn, ecological burn, fire mapping, prescribed fire, Wildfire}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18213}, url = {https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF18213}, author = {Martyn Eliott and Tom Lewis and Tyron Venn and Sanjeev Kumar Srivastava} } @article {bnh-4970, title = {Controlled burn and immediate mobilization of potentially toxic elements in soil, from a legacy mine site in Central Victoria, Australia}, journal = {Science of The Total Environment}, volume = {616-617}, year = {2018}, month = {03/2018}, chapter = {1022}, abstract = {

Conducting controlled burns in fire prone areas is an efficient and economic method for forest management, and provides relief from the incidence of high severity wild fires and the consequent damage to human property and ecosystems. However, similar to wild fires, controlled burns also affect many of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the forest soil and may facilitate remobilization of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) sequestered in vegetation and soil organic matter. The objective of the current study is to investigate the mobilization of PTEs, in Central Victorian forest soils in Australia after a controlled burn. Surface soil samples were collected two days before and after the controlled burn to determine the concentration of PTEs and to examine the physicochemical properties. Results show that As, Cd, Mn, Ni and Zn concentrations increased 1.1, 1.6, 1.7, 1.1 and 1.9 times respectively in the post-burn environment, whereas the concentrations of Hg, Cr and Pb decreased to 0.7, 0.9 and 0.9 times respectively, highlighting considerable PTE mobility during and after a controlled burn. Whilst these results do not identify very strong correlations between physicochemical properties of soil and PTEs in the pre- and post-burn environments, PTEs themselves demonstrated very strong and significant correlations. The mobilization of As, Hg and other toxic elements raise potential health concerns as the number of controlled burns are projected to increase in response to climate change. Due to this increased level of PTE release and remobilization, the use of any kinds of controlled burn must be carefully considered before being used as a forest management strategy in mining-affected landscapes which include areas with high PTE concentrations.

}, keywords = {Arsenic and metals, environmental pollution, forest fire, historical mining, prescribed fire, soil and water pollution}, doi = {10.1016}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717329364}, author = {Joji Abraham and Kim Dowling and Singarayer Florentine} } @article {bnh-5401, title = {Influence of controlled burning on the mobility and temporal variations of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in the soils of a legacy gold mine site in Central Victoria, Australia}, journal = {Geoderma}, volume = {331}, year = {2018}, chapter = {1}, abstract = {

Controlled burns also known as managed burns or prescribed fires conducted in fire-prone areas are an efficient and economic option to reduce the frequency and intensity of\ wildfires. The objective of this study is to investigate the\ remobilizationof potentially\ toxic metals\ (PTMs) in the soils of a legacy\ gold mine\ site in Central Victoria, Australia after a controlled burn and to describe their\ temporal variationsin concentrations. Soil samples were collected two days before, two days after and five times later (3, 6, 9, 12 months and after major rainfall) in the post-burn environment after a controlled burn, from the Maldon legacy mine site and analysed for PTM concentrations. The results revealed PTM mobilization after the burn and most of the PTMs (As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, and Zn) evidenced an increase immediately after the burn but a reduction in the subsequent post-burn environment. The increase is postulated to be associated with addition of PTM enriched ash to the soil, while the decrease is due to the removal of ash and surface soil by wind activity as well as rainfall\ runoff\ and\ leaching. The PTM mobility is of specific concern due to the negative impacts on human and\ ecosystems health.\ Climate change\ and the resulting projection of increased\ forest fire\ frequency highlight the environmental significance, given the expected concomitant increase in PTM mobilization through wildfires and controlled burns. Hence, the practice of controlled burning should be carefully considered as a\ forest management\ option in any legacy mining areas and indeed in other areas where PTM\ contamination\ is reported.

}, keywords = {Ash, forest fire, Forest management, Metal mobility, prescribed fire, Soil and water contamination}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2018.06.010}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706117320001}, author = {Joji Abraham and Kim Dowling and Singarayer Florentine} }