Assessment 1: Fire Regimes and Management in Lane Cove Valley (ENV267)

This report addresses the significant bushfire hazard in Lane Cove Valley, focusing on vegetation communities with adverse fire regimes. The analysis identifies freshwater wetlands (Rushland), grasslands, heathlands, shrubby dry sclerophyll forests, grassy dry sclerophyll forests, sclerophyll grassy woodlands, semi-mesic grassy forests, wet sclerophyll forests, saline wetlands, and rainforest communities as being at risk. The report then outlines a multi-pronged approach to fire management, including prevention strategies such as fire investigations, reserve closures, fire danger signage, and patrolling. Suppression strategies involve annual RIPs, emergency management plans, and multi-agency drills. Response strategies emphasize standard operating procedures, public relations, incident control systems, aircraft use, and remote firefighting teams. Finally, recovery strategies include rehabilitation plans and pest management controls. The report emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to bushfire management to achieve an optimum fire regime within the Lane Cove Valley.

ENV267/ENVS605 Assessment 1
Title:
Date:
Student name and student number:
Question:
Bushfires are a significant hazard in Lane Cove Valley. In the upper LCV, which vegetation
communities have been mapped as having an adverse fire regime? For these vegetation
communities, what fire management strategies and activities could you put in place to
achieve an optimum fire regime?
The Lane Cove Bational Park is beautiful pocket that has a pocket of bushland and it
is located on either side of the Lane Cove River. The national is locatd not far from the
Sydney’s city centre and is a perfect spot for school excursion and family day out. Due to the
combination of vegetataion, topography and climate the Sydney is a bushfire prone area
(nationalparks.nsw.gov.au 2018).
The vegetation communities that are mapped as having the adverse fire regime are the
freshwater wetlands (Rushland), Grasslands (no particular community is represented in the
reserves), heathlands (shrubland/ closed shrubland), Shrubby dry sclerophyll forests (Malllee
open woodland/Open woodland/ Sydney Peppermint Woodland, Red Bloodwood, E.
paniculata, E.piperita, E. haemastoma, Turpentine forest or Blackbutt, E. globoideam, A.
costata), grassy dry sclerophyll forests, Sclerophyll grassy woodlands, semi-mesic grassy
forests, wet sclerophyll forests (Blue Gum high forest- weed growth & dense mesic fern),
saline wetlands (Mangrove), Saline wetlands (Grey mangrove low closed forest), rainforest
communities (Coachwood simple rainforest) (environment.nsw.gov.au 2018).
The first and important step prior to suggesting any strategy regarding the fire
management for the vegetation communities is to designate the fire interval status of the
vegetation. The various levels that can be formed are: over 50 percent of the community is
burned (if over 50 percent of the vegetation community is over burnt), over burnt (if the
community is burnt less than the minimum levels of threshold of two or more times in
succession), vulnerable (if a particular vegetation community has experienced a one interval
less), recently burnt (vegetation community that has recently experienced fire), within
threshold (if fire occurs this vegetation will get burnt instantly), long un-burnt (the vegetation
communities have not burnt for several years) (environment.nsw.gov.au 2018).
It is important to note that the bushfires are bound to occur due to the unplanned
human ignitions, fires start accidentally from the machinery, power lines, and abandoned
campfires. Thus, it is always the best option to manage fires in a multi-pronged way.
Bushfire prevention strategies- the fire investigators can work along with the NSW
FB, RFS and the local police to effectively investigate all the suspicious activities that are
occurring within the reserves; in order to stop fire from spreading within the reserves, the best
option is to close part of the reserves or parts of the reserved can be banned to prevent
damage occurring from the extended fire; Al the major public entrances must have the fire
danger signage in order to promote public awareness during the days of extreme fire danger;
patrolling the reserve area to search the perimeter of ant wildfires during the onset of the
extreme seasons; fire trails gates can be installed and the wherever necessary and the key

registers can be maintained in order to control access of the organizations and agencies into
the reserve premises (Bond and Mercer 2014).
Bushfire suppression strategies- annual RIPs can be prepared to maintain a contact of
the NPWS staff database along with the other fire support agencies and the organizations
involved with the management of the bushfires; emergency management plans can be
prepared for the visitors to the reserves and clear direction can be marked for speedy
evacuation, the plan will also include the provision to locate the visitors in the remote places
of the reserve; demo drill can be conducted with the multiagency management team that will
review the strategies with respect scenarios involving high risks (Lord et al., 2012).
Bushfire response strategies- the most important part is to take into account the fire
suppression activities in the reserves. It must be ensured that the whole process is carried out
with respect to the standard operating procedures; develop the public relations and the media
relation strategies that will take into account the role of local community supporting the
bushfire management; bushfires must be controlled according to the incident control systems
that ensure the safety of the firefighters as well as the community; aircrafts can be used to
access the inaccessible fires where the vital assets are at risk; remote firefighting teams can
be formed that are identified through the aerial reconnaissance to minimize the fires and
protect the assets; the bushfire information management system can be used to report about
the fire suppression activities, the NPWS geographic information system can also be used for
recording fire activities; the work programs can be modified depending on the levels of fire
danger and also reduce the response time from ignition (Salmon et al., 2014).
Bushfire recovery strategies- after the operation winds down, the rehabilitation work
can proceed after the suppression activities; wherever necessary, rehabilitation plans can be
made in order to promote the recovery options arising from the fire operations that have
significant impacts; also it is important to include the pest management controls so that the
invasive pests can be controlled from spreading (Walters and Mair 2012).
Map:
Insert your map here. Include a figurJ e caption for your map
OPTIONAL Self-reflection questions:
Include your answers to the following –
1. Have you double-checked that your map is complete and that you’ve met all the assessment
requirements?
2. What do you think is a fair grade for the work that you have handed in, and why?
3. What did you do best in this assessment task
4. What did you do least well in this assessment task?

5. What did you find was the hardest or most challenging part?
6. What was the most important thing that you learned in doing this assessment task?
7. If you had more time to complete the task, would you change anything? What would you
change, and why?
Reference
Bond, T. and Mercer, D., 2014. Subdivision Policy and Planning for Bushfire Defence: A
Natural Hazard Mitigation Strategy for Residential Peri‐Urban Regions in V ictoria, A
ustralia. Geographical Research, 52(1), pp.6-22.
environment.nsw.gov.au, 2018. Lane Cove National Park, Wallumatta Nature Reserve and
Dalrymple Hay Nature Reserve Fire Management Strategy. [online] NSW Environment &
Heritage. Available at:
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/research-and-publications/publications-search/lane-
cove-national-park-wallumatta-dalrymple-hay-nature-reserves-fire-management-strategy
[Accessed 26 Aug. 2018].
Lord, C., Netto, K., Petersen, A., Nichols, D., Drain, J., Phillips, M. and Aisbett, B., 2012.
Validating ‘fit for duty’tests for Australian volunteer fire fighters suppressing
bushfires. Applied ergonomics, 43(1), pp.191-197.
Salmon, P.M., Goode, N., Archer, F., Spencer, C., McArdle, D. and McClure, R.J., 2014. A
systems approach to examining disaster response: using Accimap to describe the factors
influencing bushfire response. Safety science, 70, pp.114-122.
Walters, G. and Mair, J., 2012. The effectiveness of post-disaster recovery marketing
messages—The case of the 2009 Australian bushfires. Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing, 29(1), pp.87-103.
nationalparks.nsw.gov.au, 2018. Lane Cove National Park | NSW National Parks. [online]
NSW National Parks. Available at:
https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/lane-cove-national-park [Accessed
27 Aug. 2018].