Camping in the 'Ashes'

ABPL90375 Landscape Thesis Studio， Master of Landscape Architecture， The University of Melbourne 2022

CAMPING IN THE "ASHES" Regenerating The Gums Campground in Kinglake National Park through land and water management

Ru Liu / 1257246 Landscape Thesis Presentation Report Supervised by Prof. Akihito Hatayama

KINGLAKE NATIONNAL PARK

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknoledge that the Kinglake National Park is on Wurrundjeri Country and Taungurung Country.

I would like to acknowledge and extend my appreciation for the Wurrrundjeri and Taungurung People , the Traditional Custodians of the land that we are standing on today.

Today, we pay our respects to leaders and Elders past, present and emerging for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and the hopes of all Wurrundjeri and Taungurung Peoples.

THE GUMS CAMPGROUND The Gums Campground is nestled in a peaceful eucalyptus forest, adjacent to Island Creek. Many birds and mammals such as wallabies and lyrebirds that call the regenerating forest home. It is a popular destination for families and groups. The site offers many camping facilities including parking, firepits, free public gas grill, picnic tables, tent pods and toilets. The neighboring Cicada Circuit is a winding path around Island Creek, passing through tall eucalyptus trees and dense ferns and listening to the beautiful sound of nature, making it a great trail to explore nature.

Most of the sites are difficult to access due to the sense shrub layer blocking

Strenghths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

THREATS

•Ecological value is quite high in the Gums and its surroundings • Nature-based circuit surrounded by the Gums Campgroud • Nature atmosphere comfort: peaceful eucalyptus forest and natural aesthetics • Post-fire narratives (table, seat, edge and bollards etc. made of burnt trees) • Accessibility for general cars • Easy mobility throughout the site

•Shared facilities such as picnic table and firpits • Less accessibility for Caravan • Pollution from cars • Lack of signages especially interpreative board • A more singular activity experience • Far away from other attractions

• Establish a strong connection both tangible and intangible with other attractions • Various nature-based exploration for visitors (experience) • Creating various type of campsites and activities to welcome different users to extend the lengths of stay • Upgrade infrastructure • Site-specific story-telling • Water management • Educational activities

• Bushfire risk • Greenhouse emission during construction process and future maintance • Growth and health conditions of plants • Balance between nature and human occupied • Vandalism behaviour - pick up branches and cut trees down for fuel • Cultural heritage assessment

DESIGN ORIENTATION

DIFFERENT METHODS OF LAND CLEARING

IMPROVE CAMPING EXPERIENCE

SITE-SPECIFIC STORYTELLING

EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

SUSTAINABILITY

• Additional space to accomodate campsites and users • Upgrading existing facilities •Meet the needs of campers at different stages • Extend the time visitors spend at the site or attract them to revisit the site

• Cultural system and knowledge • Forest System • Camping • Natural Atmosphere • Nature-based experience

• Educational Corridors in response to Kinglake National park • Learn from nature • Provoke user's deep thinking on our environment and climate change

• More revenue to cover budgets shortfalls and support long-term site maintenance • Reduce the human carbon footprint on site and its surrounding • Water management • Bushfire management •

SLASHING / PLANT HIRE CLEAING

ECO-FRIENDLY LAND CLEARANCE

CHEMICAL CLEARING

Eco-Unfriendly Method

CONTROLLED BURN

Taungurung Country Traditional Land Management Method

LEARNING FROM TRADITION - FIRE-STICK FARMING

• Cultural burning is a practice used by aboriginal people for over 60,000 years • Involes small controlled spot fires in cooler seasons • Clears away dead flora and fauna • Passed down onto each generation

Manages fire sensitive ecosystems as it: • Prevents fire risks • Help plants get re birthed • Protect habitat of animals • Create fire adaptable landscapes

"Aboriginal Fire Management: What is cool burning?", source from: https://www.watarrkafoundation.org.au/blog/aboriginal-firemanagement-what-is-cool-burning#:~:text=In%20a%20practice%20called%20Cool,wildfires%20from%20consuming%20the%20 land.

EXISTING SITE CONDITION - FUEL Bracken Ferns / Pteridium esculentum

FIRE COUNTRY

BUSHFIRE PRO & CON

Forest regrowth after fire in Kinglake National Park

2009 Black Saturday Bushfire Intensity The Gums Campground

2009 Fire Intensity: 2F-Crown Scorch

What's the carbon footprint of ... a bushfire?

2009 "Black Saturday"

7 February - 14 March

165 MILLION TONNES CO2e

30 TONNES PER Hectare

Esri, HERE, Vicmap, Esri, HERE, Garmin, USGS

Legend Bushfire Management Overlay Highway Road The Gums Campground

Image Credit: 1. "2009 Bushfire in Kinglake National Park", Getty Images, from https://www.vogue.com.au/travel/destinations/where-to-plan-a-holiday-and-where-to-visit-now-to-helpaustralian-communities-this-bushfire-season/image-gallery/cdba3e7c0a53106f418c0b808337cfd7 2. "Australia's Worst Fires" Risk Frontirs, source from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043

2009 Fire Intensity

Ü

Severity 1 - Crown Burn 2F - Crown Scorch 2P - Moderate Crown Scorch 3 - Light or no Crown Scorch Unknown - No Crown Scorch. No understorey burnt. OR no data.

0

1

2

4

6

8 Kilometers

One season of Australian bushfires can cause as much CO2 as the annual emissions of 5 million Australians or 50 million Chinese people.

PRECEDENT: BERLIN IGA - CULTIVATED BY FIRE

By T.C.L

THE GUMS CAMPGROUND CONCEPT DESIGN Regenerating the seasonal campsite

Design Key Points: • explores the Australian Aboriginal land management practice known as 'fire-stick farming' • the garden distils and abstracts the fire-stick farming practice to create a mosaic garden composed of elements reminiscent of both the burnt and rejuvenated Australian landscape • elements include actual fire, charred poles and clipped branches, Eucalyptus and Acacia seedlings, embedded glass cabinets or wunderkammers containing sculptural installations of various narratives in relation to Fire Stick Farming • reaveled how Australian landscape has always been shaped by cultural processes.

s://landezine-award.com/berlin-iga-cultivated-by-fire-2/

The Gums Potentials: • re-present bushfire significance for both indigenous people and land management • guiding visitors to re-examine the pros and cons of fire • bring fire-stick farming into the Gums future land management • combine the traditional fire cultural with eco-tourism • explore the potentials of burnt trees • educational siginificance - school field works?

• emphasise the relationship between the site and the fire as an important step to adapting climate change • as a meditation space for visitors to reflect on nature.

• outdoor museum of eucalyptus seedings

THE LOGIC FRAMEWORK

DESIGN RATIONALE The masterplan is based on the worldview of traditional custodian Tangurung Country, with an eye to traditional land management which is cultural burning to guide landscape management and inform the potential of ongoing development processes for more equitable and sustainable outcomes. The design and construction processes are driven by a native philosophy of "living with nature". The camp facilities, services and attractions will be moved, removed or added as the natural environment changes after the mosaic burns, significantly altering the existing natural environment and vegetation structure for at least 5-7 years.

A range of camping, recreational, educational, and nature immersion activities will be delivered incrementally to guide visitors to engage with nature in a meaningful way in the Kinglake National Park. Expand the range of memorable and relevant opportunities for people to rebuild or otherwise engage in the park, attract a more diverse range of visitors and encourage longer stays in and around the campground and multiple return visits to the site. In addition, the camp master plan foresees partnerships with indigenous people, local communities, the private sector, schools and social institutions, and other land management agencies to provide visitor opportunities that bring environmental, social and economic benefits in and around the campground.

The long-term vision for the Gums Campground is to serve as the primary accommodation for Kinglake National Park to be the most popular and accessible gateway to Kinglake National Park, and also be an intermediate hub connecting the national park to the city.

MASTERPLAN

PHASE 1 - Enriching Camping Experience

Phase 1

Planned Burning Stage 1

• Upgrade existing site facilities • Fuel management • Planned burning for biodiversity and for accomadate future caravan park and wild camping site

Phase 2 • Enhance nature-based experiences • water system - seasonal ponds • built long-term relationship with schools and survival insititution

Planned Burning Stage 2

• Forest school

Phase 3 • More campsite for long-term stay and volunteers • edible garden to support user's daily life • Reduce the human footprint in inner KNP • Accesibility to across the river 1:1200@A3

Section AA': Campsites & Infomation Center

Section BB': Caravan Capsites

1:250@A4

1:250@A4

PHASE 1 Calendar

Section CC': Wild Camping

1:250@A4

PHASE 2 - Learn From Nature

Existing Site Condition

Before

Planned Burning Stage 1 Perspective - Sensory Forest

Planned Burning Stage 2 1:1200@A3

Section DD': Sensory Forest

1:250@A4

Section EE': Forest School - Moveable

Section FF': Ephmeral Ponds

1:250@A4

1:250@A4

Perspective - Ephmeral Ponds

PHASE 2 Calendar

Section HH': Linkage

PHASE 3 - Off-Grid Forest Life

1:250@A4

Section GG'': Off-grid Cabins

1:250@A4

Planned Burning Stage 1

Edible Garden

1:1200@A3

Planned Burning Stage 2

Section II': Edible Garden

1:250@A4

Edible Garden Cycle

PHASE 3 Calendar

MASTERPLAN COLLABRATIVE ENGAGEMENT

Parks Victoria

Traditional Custodian

The Education State

Council

Government

Volunteer

Forest Fire Management (FFM)

Community

Nature Lovers

RESPONDING TO THE KINGLAKE NATIONAL PARK MASTERPLAN The Kinglake National Park Masterplan envisages Kinglake National Park as 'Melbourne's most accessible national park' The Gums Campground will be the most accessible and popular entrance to the Kinglake National Park, and will be the main accomodation area of the national park.

DESIGN LIMITATION OPPORTUNITIES

CHALLENGES

The Park provides opportunities for education and interpretation for all ages and backgrounds. A clear thematic structure to interpretation will assist first time visitors in understanding the Parks’ core values and its relevance to their day to day lives.

Planned burns need to be closed on short notice to ensure visitor safety, but because safe and effective burns require suitable weather conditions, the suitability of which can usually only be determined on the day of the burn, the timing of park closures can interrupt the visitor experience

Enhance and provide diverse visitor opportunities that attract a range of visitor markets.

The Gums Campground offer various camping experience and experience trail for visitors. And also provides opportunities for education and interpretation for all ages and background. The long-term vision of The Gums Campground would be extend visitor's stay and attract them to revisit the site.

Depending on the type of vegetation, fuel levels may take as little as five years or as long as 30 years to return to pre-fire conditions CONSTRAINS Reducing damage to hollow trees during burning

Educational and Economic The Gums Campground foresees partnerships with indigenous people, local communities, the private sector, schools and social institutions, and other land management agencies to provide visitor opportunities that bring environmental, social and economic benefits in and around the campground. (Forest Kindgarden, Survival School etc.)

The limitation of prescribed burning i s t h a t i t i s d i ff i c u l t t o c o n f i r m that monitoring and evaluation is supposed to confirm that impacts/ benefits are consistent with predictions

Staff implementing burn plans should have a good understanding of the current state of the site and fine fuels

LIMITATION Lack of detailed assessment of vegetation and wildlife Specific Criteria and methods of cool burning are not yet fully understood The existing condition of the other side of the Island Creek is not yet known

REFLECTION I think maybe 'Overthinking' is the most appropriate word for my state this semester. I seem to have fallen into some sort of rut where I want every little bit of my design to be evidence-based. To do this, I would look up the information one by one, and then waste too much time.

Then I found that the more knowledge I absorbed, the more confused my mind became. I was always in a phase of inspiration deprivation, which resulted in minimal weekly output. Even every time I got feedback from the teacher I only existed for a moment to know what I was going to do, and then when I did do it, I didn't know what to do.

I found this topic really difficult but really interesting and stimulated many directions that I had rarely thought about in the past. In particular, this is a very rigorous area of land management in relation to burning and I am anxious to understand the full range of standards and approaches to cultural burning. Because managing forest landscapes by fire is an urgent strategy for Australia.

THANK YOU!

I thought a lot about it and searched a lot to help me understand cultural burning, but I didn't find much more concrete practice. So for two to three weeks, I wasn't sure how I should proceed and was even a little confused about my design concepts. Fortunately, my tutor was always there to help me through the process, even taking extra time to help me improve my design, and I was really grateful for that. So I'm sorry that I didn't end up with a good or even a complete design.

Time management is something I need to learn more about. I always get distracted by too much thinking and waste a lot of time. I even studied every day but didn't know what I had learned. So I was not able to finish the design I expected before the presentation, so after the presentation, I didn't feel the relief of graduation as expected, but I saw the gap between me and others. So I decided to take a few extra days to refine my logical framework and graphical presentation to close out my graduate studies. Although this version still doesn't meet my expectations, it is the best expression I could come up with at the moment.

I think the semester was still very fulfilling and enjoyable, and I can't get enough of the topic, and I hope to revisit it again at a later time, thinking about the circular economy, embodied energy, cultural burning, etc.

Finally, the many force majeure factors that happened this semesterI, but I would like to thank my tutor Prof.Aki for his patience and time to help us finish the last semester.