National Burning Project Overview

NATIONAL FRAMEWORKS FOR

PRESCRIBED BURNING NATIONAL BURNING PROJECT

The National Burning Project is bringing together inter-related aspects of prescribed burning across Australasia to design guiding frameworks and principles for a more holistic and consistent approach to prescribed burning practices.

SCIENCE

APPLICATION •Risk Frameworks •Best Practice •Guidelines

•Overview •Expanded scientific review

OPTIMISATION

TRAINING

•Objectives Analysis •Resource and Capability Sharing •National Tool Box •Performance Measures

•Competency Review •Training Resource kits •Training delivery

NATIONAL POSITION AND PRINCIPLES There are numerous agencies across Australia that utilise prescribed burning for multiple objectives under various legislative and policy directives. Throughout the National Burning Project, the concepts associated with prescribed burning have been workshopped, discussed, and a number of broad principles have been stated. This document identifies those principles and the rationale behind them. The position is endorsed by AFAC member agencies, the Forest and Fire Management Group and the Australia-New Zealand Emergency Management Committee.

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Prescribed Burning National Frameworks

SCIENCE

Overview of Prescribed Burning in Australasia

This report is a very useful introduction and overview of prescribed burning in Australasia, for those interested in the role of fire in the Australasian landscape, the origins of Australasian prescribed burning, its use as a bushfire management tool, its use for biodiversity outcomes, smoke and climate change concerns, and the evidence base that underpins the use of planned fire

SCIENCE

Prescribed Burning in Australasia – A Review of the Evidence AFAC has joined forces with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC to engage leading researchers to provide reviews of the most current thinking around prescribed burning .

The final product will be published as book and will cover the topics of: • • • • • •

For millennia, fire has played an important role in shaping Australian environments, ecosystems and biota, including through indigenous burning practices and through natural causes such as lightning strikes. After European settlement of the Australian continent the use of fire changed dramatically, and continues to change today, with deep implications for bushfire management, ecosystems, traditional landscapes and species.

Physical Science Biological Science Socioeconomic Issues Productivity Traditional knowledge Risk

Land managers today have a challenge to manage fire in the landscape for multiple outcomes and to balance resources, research, policies and risk.

Prescribed Burning National Frameworks

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Prescribed burning is delivered through a variety of processes by agencies across Australia and New Zealand. This allows for regional differences and tailored programs.

However, there are underlying principles that should and do support these disparate programs. AFAC has taken on the challenge to develop national doctrine to provide guidance on the principles that underpin all prescribed burn planning and implementation activities. The framework and principles identified in this document will be valuable to practitioners, planners and land managers with an interest in undertaking prescribed burning in the best ways possible.

The National Burning Project aims to fulfil a need to consolidate agency views, supported by science and experience, into a national framework, whilst allowing individual agencies to operate consistently within their legislative and operational requirements The National Burning Project is developing a holistic overview of prescribed burning to develop national frameworks for : • Risk Management • Best Practice • Training • Resource and Tools sharing

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Prescribed Burning National Frameworks

APPLICATION

APPLICATION

National Operational Guidelines

CASE STUDIES The operational guidelines were informed by nine cases studies across multiple fuel types, risk mitigation issues and agency processes.

National Strategic Guidelines The strategic planning phase of prescribed burning involves decisions about how to burn, how much to burn and where to focus burning in the landscape, all of which involves consideration of a range of risk management scenarios from minimalist burning treatments adjacent to assets, through to more extensive and widespread burning strategies.

These guidelines will encompass extensive reviews of agencies’ planning approaches and systems to deliver a clear national guidelines for strategising prescribed burning programs.

APPLICATION

A Review of Best Practice for Prescribed Burning The report provides a detailed account of the prescribed burning practices that are considered to be examples of best practice. The practices north of the Tropic of Capricorn are described separately from those in southern Australia and New Zealand. The report provides ideas and processes that can be incorporated into a fuel management approach that reflects the best of what has already been applied and proven. The report is recommended to fuel management practitioners and students of fire ecology for its detail.

APPLICATION

Risk Management Frameworks These documents review the approaches undertaken by Australian and New Zealand land and fire management agencies with regard to management of risks associated with: • • • •

Burning Operations Ecological Values Fuel Hazards Smoke and Greenhouse Gad Emissions

From these starting points, the reports builds and present frameworks that can be adopted by Australian and New Zealand agencies to facilitate an improved alignment of approaches and greater appreciation of risks associated with undertaking prescribed burning.

Prescribed Burning National Frameworks

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TRAINING

Training Resource Kits In line with the National Qualifications that form part of the Public Safety Training Package, the new National Operational Guidelines have been incorporated into the redeveloped Training Resource Kits for current competencies which will be released in the first half of 2016.

These learner resources provide instruction and theory that can be used by students or by instructors for lesson planning.

TRAINING

Training Competencies and Delivery

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This component will ensure a suitable, adequate and approved suite of competency standards exist for the tasks and roles required for prescribed burning for all users.

It will also provide a report that investigates and recommends preferred options for the delivery of national training programs that increases the efficiency and effectiveness of current arrangements.

Prescribed Burning National Frameworks

OPTIMISATION

Understanding competing objectives

Prescribed burning often comes with competing objectives and agencies will always be attempting to balance these objectives for optimal outputs.

Agencies currently utilise a number of tools for assigning burn parameters but there is little economic analysis that can give suggestion to prioritisation of burns.

This project will examine the usefulness and useability of current tools and through a number of case studies will design a tool or tools that can be utilised by agencies for refinement of their objectives.

2017 PROJECT DELIVERIES Performance Measures

OPTIMISATION

A framework of measures for the measurement of performance that can be used for benchmarking and target setting will be developed in a collaborative way.

The measures will be supported with data standards and business rules to support agencies wishing to adopt them.

National Tool Box

Undertaking prescribed burning requires integration across risk management, resourcing, etc. A number of decision support tools are utilised by agencies to help. The national Tool Box will draw together a repository of these tools that will help decision makers access a full suite of products.

Optimising Capability Sharing

This sub project will develop processes and where possible systems that allow for the exploitation of greater opportunities for the sharing of prescribed burning resources between agencies and between jurisdictions.

Prescribed Burning National Frameworks

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Participating AFAC Rural and Land Management and Forest and Fire Management Group agencies

Developed in conjunction with the National Burning Project, the Bushfire Fuel Classification will facilitate effective bushfire management by providing a nationally consistent classification of bushfire fuel to improve communication, crossborder interoperability and facilitate the use and development of bushfire management support tools, especially fire behaviour predictive tools.

It will be supported by a range of documentation.

The National Burning Project has been jointly commissioned by AFAC and the Forest Fire Managers Group (FFMG). It has been funded by the National Emergency Management Program, AFAC member agencies and the National Bushfire Mitigation Program through the NSW Rural Fire Service and the Attorney General’s Department

For further information on the project: Deb Sparkes Project Support Officer deb.sparkes@afac.com.au

Greg Esnouf Project Manager greg.esnouf@afac.com.au

Volunteers and staff of AFAC member agencies have free access to all areas of the AFAC website.

Join up now at : http://www.afac.com.au/auxiliary/join Staff and volunteers of AFAC member agencies can obtain pdf versions of reports at : www.afac.com.au/initiatives/burning Hard copies of reports are available at: www.afac.com/au/auxilary/shop Photos courtesy of Ian Tanner Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South Australia