19/12/2019
Week 12: December 6th. Yes, I know, I'm a bit behind.... (so just admire the profile pic of my behind)…..
Week 12 I was at Aberporth. Kal Black took the pics. I got swept away so fast that she'd popped back to the benches and missed the moment. It was miserable weather too - almost as wet out of the water as in it.
My friend Margaret Kertesz was staying with us this week. She's Australian, and it prompted me to have a conversation with her other half, Wozza Will (Warwick), back home in Ballarat. Warwick is a forester, now lawyer for a forestry firm, and has worked in Australia's forestry industry for several decades.
Bush fires are raging across Australia. I wanted to understand more about this, and to check out the simplistic assumption that this is a climate change issue.
So here is what I learnt - or was reminded of.
Bush fires are part of the natural cycle of the Australian landscape. They can start spontaneously, and there are plants whose growth cycle relies on the heat to regenerate.
The aboriginal people in Australia also knew this, and they historically also burnt the bush. This encouraged new grass (and therefore grain), and this also encouraged wildlife to come to those areas, making hunting easier.
It is extremely hard in Australia to identify what the indigenous flora and fauna are. The arrival of the first people brought radical changes to the landscape - this is evident in the pollen records. I discovered that Australia had mega fauna - there's a link below if you're curious about this. https://www.abc.net.au/science/ozfossil/megafauna/fauna/fauna.htm
The flora and fauna changed rapidly after the first people arrived in Australia. This was partly die to climate changes, and partly due to the arrival of people, and the way they used the land.
Warwick spoke about how forestry works, and the competing claims. As with anything, it's much more complicated than I thought, and more complex than I'm able to present here.
Firstly, we need forestry. Wood and other products are a brilliant resource, because it is endlessly renewable (provided we have the climate for it!). We can't be too sentimental; we need to be responsible and realistic.
It's easy in Australia to see forestry in two parts - managed plantations, and cutting so called "native" forest.
Managed plantations are intensive; they require a lot of work, tend to use fertilisers, methods of w**d control, and often use genetically improved species. The plantations do create habitats, but they tend to be quite narrow in what is able to live there. Trees tend to be cut around the 33 year mark - and then reseeded. They grow fast, and the wood tends to be quite bendy.
Managed plantations often use land which could also be used for food production, so there is competition for the land, and more pressure for economic success.
So called native/bush forestry provides richer and more varied habitats. They are effect managed, but managed differently. The trees are allowed to grow for longer, are cut at around 80 years, and provide a better product. The landscape is to some extent self-managing, and therefore the work is less intensive. And there really is no such thing as native or bush land which is unaffected by human intervention. All land has been used by people in different ways over the millennia.
There are now many invasive species both from the arrival of the first peoples, and the European and other imports. So there are a wide variety of non-native species - fox, deer, rabbit, feral cats, sparrows, starlings; blackberries, gorse, broom, thistle. Even the dingo is an aboriginal introduction.
Now to the fires. As I have said, bush fires are a natural part of the environment in Australia. However, the evidence seems to be that there are more of them, and they are occurring more frequently and through longer parts of the year.
Australia seems to be a bit hotter - about 1 degree more at present - than historically. There is less rainfall, and it is more erratic. Australia has always had droughts and floods; but there does appear to be a consistent difference. Snow averages have diminished in the last 100 years.
The Australian Government appears to be resisting thinking and action on climate change, especially in relation to the bush fires. Here's an article about former fire chiefs speaking out on the issue: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/14/former-australian-fire-chiefs-say-coalition-doesnt-like-talking-about-climate-change
And some fact checking.... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/22/australia-bushfires-factcheck-are-this-years-fires-unprecedented
Warwick also points out that there are changes in fire management over the last few decades. There is more emphasis on health and safety for firefighters, and managing risk, which sometimes means that fires cannot be well controlled. That's a hard call for all of us. It's also worth knowing that, outside the city, all firefighters are volunteers - and when they are fighting fires, sometimes for weeks on end, they are not in their day job either.
In the meantime, lets remind ourselves that people are losing their homes, their livelihoods and sometimes their lives in Australia at the moment; and there are also costs for the wellbeing of all those involved.
Fire photo is from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
