More fires a recipe for ecological disaster

MEDIA RELEASE CCSA acknowledges the difficult and dangerous work being done by local residents and volunteers to
manage the Kangaroo Island fires and commends their efforts and service  and increasing the
frequency of burns in the large intact areas of native vegetation on Kangaroo Island will not make
their job any easier. What it would do is reduce biodiversity and damage habitat  the result being
the loss of native species and a reduction in ecosystem services such as clean air, potable water and
pollination of crops.
In fact, many controlled burns escape and develop into wildfires - creating the very risk to the
community and the tourism economy of the island that they were trying to avoid in the first place.
Kangaroo Island has a unique ecology and is rich in biodiversity that provides habitat for abundant
wildlife - partly due to the unique human history of the Island  with no Aboriginal burning for at least
2,300 years and limited clearance since settlement, relative to mainland SA.
Fire is a natural process that is ongoing and unavoidable, with lightning strikes starting many fires that
create a mosaic of fire ages across large remnants of native vegetation on western part of the island.
CCSA does not support an increase in deliberate burning or fire frequency in the large areas of intact
native vegetation and wilderness on Kangaroo Island, where natural processes, including fire, should
be maintained.
CCSA does support the use of fire to reduce fuel to protect life and property, and where
appropriate, to restore natural fire regimes for ecological benefit  for example in fragmented
remnants where fire may have been excluded for extended periods.
Adaptive fire management programs must be informed by good science and subject to ongoing
management and ongoing monitoring.
For further comment call Fraser Vickery on 0400 035 300 or 8553 5350
or CCSA Campaigner Jamnes Danenberg on 0411 028 930
Fraser is a resident of KI, has a Masters degree in Terrestrial Ecology and is undertaking a PhD in
Fire Ecology. He has been involved in fire prevention and fire management for more than thirty years
and is the CCSA representative on the Regional Bushfire Prevention Committee.