From Colonisation to Cooperation with Country
Channel: The Royal Society of Victoria
Date: 2023-12-05

The end of native forest logging in Victoria presents the opportunity for a new direction, and a fundamental challenge to thinking that dates from the beginning of colonisation. Our fire records tell us that the legacy of logging is a landscape now deeply prone to high severity fire, and we have begun to see why this is as rigorous science gradually replaces the old thinking. 

Dr Philip Zylstra (@curtinuniversity) summarises what we know about the fundamental controls that forests have placed on fire since Gondwana, how this validates what so many elders of Country have known for so long, and why industries of disturbance and exploitation disrupt these natural controls to convert forests into dense, flammable regrowth. The challenge before us is to leave this old authoritarian thinking behind and learn to cooperate with country; to restore and reinforce the ecological controls on fire in time to weather the mounting storm of climate change.

About the speaker:

Dr Philip Zylstra came into bushfire research from a background in fire management and remote area firefighting. Since that time he has developed the first and only peer-reviewed fire behaviour model for most Australian forests, as well as the first model globally to calculate the direct effects of fire on flora, fauna and soils. His work focuses on understanding the ways that our interaction with forests affect fire risk. Using fire history analysis and state-of-the-art modelling, Phil’s work reconciles deep knowledge from First Peoples with forest ecology and a complex understanding of fire behaviour to provide critically-needed guidance in fire management.

Produced by the Royal Society of Victoria for "The Future of Victoria's Native Forests: A Public Symposium" with the support of the Alluvium Foundation. The symposium was delivered in partnership with the Alluvium Foundation, Friends of the Earth Melbourne and the Victorian National Parks Association.