Cootamundra
Indicator: Fire
Results for this indicator are also available for [an error occurred while processing this directive]
What the results tell us for Cootamundra
Available data indicate that at no land was burnt in Cootamundra Shire during the current reporting period from prescribed burns. Programs to reduce the level of fuel available to burn in a bush fire were undertaken in the Shire during the current reporting period. Examples of hazard reduction strategies undertook include hazard reduction slashing/trittering. No information was available on the effects of fire on fire sensitive vegetation communities that occur in the Shire.
Inappropriate fire frequencies is considered a threat to at least one threatened species (DECC 2008c) and may put more threatened plant and animal species at risk. Wildlife and habitat corridors in the Shire may also be adversely affected by inappropriate fire regimes.
Cootamundra Shire may have occurrences of two threatened ecological communities listed nationally or in New South Wales (NSW) (DECC 2008a; DECC 2008b; DEWHA 2008a) (note: threatened ecological community lists are generated based on Bioregions). Both of these communities are at risk from inappropriate fire regimes (DECC, 2008b, DEWHA, 2008b). No information was available to assess the impact of fire on these communities during the current reporting period.
A bushfire risk management plan was prepared for the Shire during the previous reporting period to guide fire management strategies.
Occurrence of fires
Available data indicate that at no land was burnt in Cootamundra Shire during the current reporting period from prescribed burns. Programs to reduce the level of fuel available to burn in a bush fire were undertaken in the Shire during the current reporting period
No wildfires occurred within Cootamundra Shire during the reporting period.
Impacts of fires on native species and communities
Native animals and plants respond differently to fire. Some can persist under a range of fire regimes. However, in many cases, too frequent fire may harm species by killing them, preventing them from spreading, depleting the soil seed bank, or modifying their habitat. Planning for threatened species recovery in relation to fire may mean implementing variable fire regimes and excluding those that are detrimental. Fire management may involve managing hazard reduction activities such as slashing and mowing, to prevent these activities from impacting on species and their habitats.
The impact of fires on native plant and animal species and ecological communities varies with factors such as fire type, intensity and frequency, season of occurrence, and scale and patchiness of the burn. The effects and rate of recovery of plant communities exposed to the impacts of fire may also be affected by broader ecological pressures such as infestation by weeds, grazing pressure, drought, changed hydrology and invasive species.
No information is available on the effects of wildfires and hazard reduction burns on vegetation communities within the Cootamundra Shire over the reporting period. The South West District Bush Fire Risk Management Plan (SWDBFMC 2002), which encompasses Cootamundra Shire, outlines fire regime thresholds for vegetation complexes within the Shire. These thresholds indicate where declines in biodiversity are predicted under certain fire conditions.
Impacts on fire sensitive species and communities
No information is available on whether fire sensitive species or communities that occur in Cootamundra Shire were impacted by control or wildfires during the current reporting period.
Potential impacts on threatened species and communities
High frequency fire resulting in the disruption of life cycle processes in plants and animals and loss of vegetation structure and composition was listed as a key threatening process on Schedule 3 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 [24 March 2000]. High fire frequency is considered a threat to a number of threatened species (DECC 2008c; NSW Scientific Committee 2008), and may put other species at risk. When it occurs, high frequency fire is resulting in the disruption of life cycle processes in plants and animals and loss of vegetation structure and composition.
There is one priority action under the "habitat management: fire" recovery strategy in the Cootamundra Shire Council. These actions apply to one threatened species, the Superb Parrot (Polytelis swainsonii ) (DECC, 2008c). A priority action is to ensure that planned burns do not have the potential to destroy nest trees. Other threatened plant and animal species that are present may also be at risk if subject to fires at an inappropriate frequency.
Cootamundra Shire contains two ecological communities listed as endangered within NSW or nationally. White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum woodland is listed as endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodlands and Derived Native Grasslands is listed as critically endangered under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (see Ecological communities).
Inappropriate fire regimes are considered a threat to both of these threatened ecological communities within the Shire (DECC 2008b; DEWHA 2008b), although the extent to which they may have been affected by fire during the reporting period is not known.
Potential impacts on other species and communities
Remnant vegetation plays an important role in safeguarding biodiversity in terms of providing habitat requirements for a diverse range of fauna and flora once widespread in Australia. Many of the species they support have become increasingly rare across broad areas of their former distribution due to extensive habitat destruction and modification for agriculture and pastoralism. Remnant vegetation, including roadside remnants, is an important refuge for fauna and flora, some of which may be affected by inappropriate fire regimes and/or high frequency fire. The resilience of remnant vegetation and their associated fauna to the effects of fire may also be undermined by cumulative effects of other ecological factors including grazing pressure, invasive species, drought and changed hydrology (salinity and/or drainage).
Jindalee and Yeo Yeo state forests contain relatively undisturbed natural populations of Cootamundra Wattle (Acacia baileyana). Natural populations of this species have been reduced because of farm development in its very localised original range (SWBFMC 2002). Fire within these state forests may further diminish the species' natural occurrence in the region.
An array of important wildlife and habitat corridors occur on varying land tenures in the Shire (see Ecological Communities). Many of these corridors are vulnerable to the effects of fire because of their fragmented nature.
Fire management
Laws and policies
The Rural Fires Act 1997 is the main state government law relating to fire management in NSW, although the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 also contain clauses relating to fire and fire management. For more information on these laws, see government laws and policies.
The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) has developed several policy documents and guidelines relating to fire management, including the Bush Fire Environmental Assessment Code (RFS 2003) and Planning for Bushfire Protection (RFS and Planning NSW 2001). The former lists threatened species, threatened populations and endangered ecological communities to be addressed when undertaking hazard reduction burns, and specifies conditions relating to the use of fire and mechanical forms of hazard reduction for each species, population or community. The planning document outlines planning considerations to be taken into account for developments in bushfire prone areas.
South West District Bushfire Management Committee
The South West District Bushfire Management Committee developed a Bushfire Risk Management Plan during the current reporting period (SWDBFMC 2002). This document maps bushfire risk across the Shire and outlines strategies which land managers will undertake to manage identified bushfire risks. The plan addresses protection of natural and cultural values and protection of life and property.
The Shire Council and other land management agencies are required to develop their own programs for implementing the strategies outlined in the bushfire risk management plan. Under this plan, Boorowa Shire Council has sole responsibility to communicate the plan's objectives and strategies to private land managers and to ensure these strategies are implemented in the Shire.
Cootamundra Shire Council
The Shire Council contracts all bushfire related matters to the South West Regional Bushfire Group based in Harden. They develop and implement the strategies outlined in the bushfire risk management plan through the network of Bushfire Brigades and captains. Each brigade has a Publicity Officer and takes responsibility for communicating the risk management plan objectives and strategies to private land managers and also ensuring the strategies are implemented in the Shire.
Other agencies
Of the two conservation reserves associated with the Shire —Flagstaff Memorial Nature Reserve, and Ulandra Nature Reserve—only the latter has a draft fire management plan.
References
DECC – see Department of Environment and Climate Change
Department of Environment and Climate Change (2008a) list of Endangered Populations, Endangered Ecological Communities, Critical Habitat and Key Threatening Processes that may potentially occur within the COOTAMUNDRA Lga. shp, provided by ACT Commissioner for the Sustainability and the Environment from Threatened Species Data Officer, Spatial Data Programs, Department of Environment and Climate Change.
Department of Environment and Climate Change (2008b), Threatened Species – species, populations and ecological communities in NSW, search on endangered ecological community, viewed 13 October 2008, http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/home_species.aspx
Department of Environment and Climate Change (2008c) Threatened Species – species, populations and ecological communities in NSW; Cootamundra Shire Council, viewed 13 October 2008, http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/pas_lga_recovery_
details.aspx?lga=Cootamundra%20Shire Council&type=habitat+management:+fire
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) (2008a) Environmental Reporting Tool, Database Report, viewed October 2008, http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/erin/ert/ert_dispatch.pl?loc_type=lga&search=Search&report=ert
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) (2008b), Biodiversity, search on endangered ecological community viewed October 2008, http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/index.html
NSW Scientific Committee (2008) Ecological consequences of high frequency fires - key threatening process declaration, final determination, accessed 9 October 2008, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspecies/EcologicalConsequencesFiresKTPListing.htm
South West District Bush Fire Management Committee (2002) South West District Bush Fire Management Committee – Bush Fire Risk Management Plan, NSW Rural Fire Service.
NSW Rural Fire Service and Planning NSW (2001) Planning for Bushfire Protection: a guide for Shire Councils, planners, fire authorities, developers and home owners, Planning NSW, viewed 26 August 2005, http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/file_system/attachments/State/Attachment_20050302_FC6A22B8.pdf.
SWDBFMC—see South West District Bush Fire Management Committee
Young RLPB—see Young Rural Lands Protection Board
RFS—see NSW Rural Fire Service
Young Rural Lands Protection Board (2003) Young RLPB TSR Management Plan 2003–2008, Young Rural Lands Protection Board, Young, viewed 29 May 2006, http://www.rlpb.org.au/southern_tablelands/young/local/management_plans/man_plan.htm.
