Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01818:front:0:p61
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01818
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 176241–179255

use of fire is essential to the survival of some plant communities. The reports made recommendations on fire regimes, fire intensities and fire frequency thresholds for all broad vegetation communities in the Territory. In 2000 these recommendations were revised by consultants for the Fire Management Program 2000–2004 to make the park's fire management strategy more consistent with fire management planning applied in NSW.

The park's fire management program is updated every five-years and details fire management priorities including bushfire risk management works (particularly prescribed burning), trail maintenance, and protecting assets and neighbouring land. The fire management program is supported by annual fire action plans. The Council has a complementary fire management plan for Wreck Bay village.

The most recent fire management program was expanded to include a focus on managing the invasive weed bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera), using a spray-burn-spray program. At the Botanic Gardens, a fire break is maintained around the perimeter fence and fire hydrants have been installed in some vulnerable areas to help exclude wildfires from the living collection.

Fire research

Research into the effects of fire on both plant and animal communities is an ongoing requirement. In December 2003 about half of the park was burnt by wildfire, over a similar area to that burnt in 1972. The Australian National University began a fire ecology research project in the park the previous year and this fire brought about changes in the design of the project which became a longer-term investigation of the effects of fire on the park's ecology. The project was extended for a further five years in 2008.
The project's results have provided valuable insights into the response of animals to wildfire. Overall, the study found that the December 2003 wildfire had relatively little impact on the park's mammal fauna. Long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta) numbers increased in burnt and unburnt areas, while bush rats (Rattus fuscipes), swamp rats (R. lutreolus) and Antechinus stuartii declined in burnt areas. Of the arboreal mammals ring-tailed possums (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) and greater gliders (Petauroides volans) declined but brush-tailed possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) increased.

These results differed substantially from other published results on the impact of fire on native mammals, possibly due to an interaction between fire and effective fox control at Booderee. Similarly, the Australian National University project found that eastern bristlebirds (Dasyornis brachypterus) recovered from the 2003 fire very quickly compared to other studies of the impact of fire on this species. The researchers put this rapid recovery down to the presence of small unburnt patches and few foxes to prey on disoriented and exposed birds following fire. However, less positively, the project noted that at individual sites throughout the park, bird species diversity declined by nine per cent