Australia's wildfire crisis linked to colonial land-use change
Research published today in Nature by University of Melbourne researchers, in collaboration with Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Corporation, reconstructed the past 1,000 years of vegetation, fire and erosion in Croajingolong National Park in East Gippsland, one of southeastern Australia's most fire-prone forests.
A recent study published in Nature reveals that Australia's wildfire crisis is strongly influenced by colonial land-use practices. Researchers from the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Corporation, analyzed a 1,000-year sediment record from Croajingolong National Park in East Gippsland. The findings show that colonization led to significant changes in the landscape, including increased fire temperatures, a fourfold increase in eucalypt cover, and heightened soil erosion.
Lead author Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher explains that prior to colonization, the Gunaikurnai people maintained the landscape through cultural burning, which kept much of the area as open woodland. This open landscape effectively protected the region from catastrophic fires, even during periods of dangerous fire weather. However, with colonization, the forest expanded and thickened across the region, loading the landscape with fuel and shifting the control of fire to climate.
The research indicates that the transformations to the land occurred long before human-driven climate change, demonstrating that colonial land-use legacies play a critical role in the current vulnerability of southeastern Australian eucalypt forests to wildfire. Fletcher emphasizes the importance of restoring cultural burning and supporting Traditional Owners in caring for Country as an essential component of mitigating wildfire risk.
GunaiKurnai elder Uncle Russell Mullett adds that not treating the land with cultural burning, such as fire, makes it extremely dangerous for the GunaiKurnai people, animals, and plants.
The study also challenges the concept of wilderness as a powerful cultural and environmental idea. Croajingolong National Park, once considered pristine wilderness, is now one of the most fire-prone and repeatedly burned areas in southeastern Australia. The forest currently being protected is, in fact, a result of colonization, and its legacy now imperils its survival.
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