3 ms·

I think you're remembering the fire bit backwards. A lack of controlled burns due to discontinuation of indigenous practices and budget cuts combined with incre

I think you're remembering the fire bit backwards. A lack of controlled burns due to discontinuation of indigenous practices and budget cuts combined with increased fire fighting (preventing natural burns) caused fuel to build up in forests that would have burned away in smaller fires. Many plants in Australia are actually adapted to frequent fires like the eucalyptus tree whose oils ignite during fires to wipe out all competitors near their seeds, which also require fire to germinate. Because of the intensity of the fires this year, it became too hot for many of those species and they now wont be able to reestablish. A similar problem developed in California due to overzealous fire fighting that built up the forest floor over decades and led to some devastating fires.

wyldfire 7y ago
> I think you're remembering the fire bit backwards. A lack of controlled burns due to discontinuation of indigenous practices and budget cuts combined with increased fire fighting (preventing natural burns) caused fuel to build up in forests that would have burned away in smaller fires. Yes, my mistake, that's probably it.
cyphar 7y ago
In Australia, a larger factor is that cotton farmers have literally been stealing water from the Murray-Darling catchment system, resulting in the entire bush becoming much drier for the past decade.
- Gustomaximus 7y ago
  Do you have any source for that? Cotton farms have taken significant flow and effected the river itself. But I've not seen anything that links these farms to the bush around the region.
  - cyphar 7y ago
    The Murray-Darling river system covers most of NSW and Victoria, so it's not hard to intuit that a drier river system will result in drier conditions in NSW and Victoria. I don't have a source which says "the fires were predominantly caused by the drying of the river system", but given the geography it seems more unlikely (at least to me) that it didn't have a significant impact.
hnick 7y ago
It's not always a lack of funding or will (though that's not helping). Burns can only be done when it's safe to do so. There are fewer safe days in recent years. An additional worry is that northern and southern fire seasons will overlap, leading to a global strain on shared resources.

wyldfire 7y ago

> I think you're remembering the fire bit backwards. A lack of controlled burns due to discontinuation of indigenous practices and budget cuts combined with increased fire fighting (preventing natural burns) caused fuel to build up in forests that would have burned away in smaller fires. Yes, my mistake, that's probably it.

cyphar 7y ago

In Australia, a larger factor is that cotton farmers have literally been stealing water from the Murray-Darling catchment system, resulting in the entire bush becoming much drier for the past decade.

Gustomaximus 7y ago
Do you have any source for that? Cotton farms have taken significant flow and effected the river itself. But I've not seen anything that links these farms to the bush around the region.
- cyphar 7y ago
  The Murray-Darling river system covers most of NSW and Victoria, so it's not hard to intuit that a drier river system will result in drier conditions in NSW and Victoria. I don't have a source which says "the fires were predominantly caused by the drying of the river system", but given the geography it seems more unlikely (at least to me) that it didn't have a significant impact.

hnick 7y ago

It's not always a lack of funding or will (though that's not helping). Burns can only be done when it's safe to do so. There are fewer safe days in recent years. An additional worry is that northern and southern fire seasons will overlap, leading to a global strain on shared resources.