Burn Options Program 2023-24

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) has released its “Burn Options Program” for the 2023-24 Fire Season. FaBWA presents a summary of the planned burns and continues to analyse them in greater detail.

The Weinup numbats

Manjimup farmer Bill Smart has been photographing numbats in the Perup block for 30 years.
Bill showed DBCA where they lived before the planned burn, but now fears an estimated 50-65 of these marsupials perished in the firestorm.

Burning in a climate emergency

Is planned burning sustainable in a Climate Emergency?
This video compares long unburnt to recently burnt forest. It shows the devastating impact planned fire is having on our forests.

Finding a balance

200,000 hectares of the south-west forest regions managed by DBCA are burnt by DBCA each year. But the policy is under scrutiny. These fires are threatening our biodiversity hotspot.
Landline’s Mark Bennett trekked into one of the remote regions to take a look.

DBCA's burning program damaging rare ecosystems

The southwest corner of WA is recognised as a biodiversity hotspot.
Scientists are warning it is becoming collateral damage because of DBCA’s planned burning regime.

Prescribed burn runs out of control in WA

In 2011 a ‘prescribed’ burn lit by DBCA (then DEC) turned into a wildfire – destroying hectares of bush.
Up to a dozen homes were destroyed by this fire near Margaret River in south-west Western Australia.

Fire & Biodiversity Forum: June 2021

The objective of the Fire & Biodiversity Forum was to further develop an informed and nuanced conversation around fire mitigation, responses to fire, biodiversity, people and places, in the face of a changing climate.
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