Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002:front:0:p75
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 215425–218341

the landscape and further contributed to the problem. Large late-season fires also lead to higher loss of carbon and increased levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Since the proclamation of the park, fire management has attempted to mimic traditional burning practices to look after country and to protect people and park assets. Considerable progress has been made to reduce the high incidence of late dry-season fires but major fires in the stone country of the park in 2004 and 2006 necessitated a review of fire management and prompted a move towards the development of landscape-based fire plans. The Arnhem Land Plateau Fire Management Plan, developed in 2007, focused on the stone country. Evaluations of the implementation of this plan illustrate some success in changing the fire regime to one dominated by early dry-season fires, however there has been little reduction in the overall frequency of fire (Murphy 2013).

Notwithstanding such management, there is now compelling evidence that recent and current fire regimes are a major contributing factor to the decline of many plant and animal species in Kakadu (and elsewhere in northern Australia), and inappropriate fire regime is a major threat to many of Kakadu's threatened species and its threatened ecological community. Many threatened and declining species are associated with or dependent upon relatively long-unburnt areas and the current frequency of fires in some areas is resulting in a decline of suitable habitat. Long-unburnt patches provide the opportunity for tree and shrub regeneration. This contributes to habitat with plants of mixed age, which is important for wildlife. A lack of long-unburnt patches contributes to more uniform habitat.

To maintain the park's landscapes, native species and cultural values, further changes in the way that fire is managed, particularly in the lowland woodlands, are needed. There are many challenges in doing this, including the vast size of the park; the extensive rugged and generally inaccessible regions; unplanned fires that are deliberately lit or caused through lightning or accidental ignition; and the spread of invasive grasses in the lowlands and floodplains. An overall fire management strategy for the park will be developed to guide management. It will include landscape-based fire strategies for the stone country, lowlands and floodplains/wetlands and set explicit targets for fire management in these landscapes. A major priority in the lowlands is to address the numerous unplanned, unauthorised and large severe fires that are lit along major roads and in the park each year by people using or travelling through the park.

The fire history of the park is well documented by Bushfires NT using interpretation of satellite imagery, and flora and fauna surveys are conducted periodically at permanent fire monitoring plots as part of the Three Parks Monitoring Programme, which