27 August, 2013
Fire forum highlights cultural importance of fire
More than 40 people from across the state will meet near Walgett this week to share knowledge about the use of fire for cultural purposes, land management and risk minimisation.
The two-day Cultural Fire Forum (August 28-29) is being convened by the Nature Conservation Council of NSW through its Firesticks Project in partnership with the Western Catchment Management Authority.
Firesticks Coordinator Oliver Costello said the event was an opportunity for Indigenous land managers and others to talk about why, when and how they burn country, and the cultural importance of different burning practices.
“There are many ways fire can be used to manage landscapes, depending on the cultural context,” Mr Costello said. “While the Rural Fire Service typically burns country to reduce fuel loads to protect life and property, Aboriginal people burn for a range of ecological and cultural reasons.
“We burn country to reduce risk, but we also use fire to increase the abundance of certain plant species or to create good conditions for animals that have cultural or spiritual significance.
“Some communities also use burning to prevent ceremonial sites, such as bora rings, being overgrown, or to reduce fuel loads around rock art sites or scar trees so they are not damaged by wildfires.”
Western Catchment Management Authority Aboriginal Knowledge Officer Ricky Archer said information collected during the forum would be added to a web-based cultural knowledge database that the CMA was developing for the western region.
“There are some gaps in traditional knowledge about burning practices because of the disruption that came with European settlement and colonisation,” Mr Archer said. “Events like this forum are a great opportunity for people to learn from each other and help fill in some of those gaps.”
Mr Archer said the forum would build upon the two field days last month where landowners were introduced to Aboriginal techniques of cool burning as a way of improving productivity.
Those workshops were held on properties near Lightning Ridge and Bourke recently as part of a Caring For Country funded program to learn more about traditional Aboriginal burning techniques and to encourage landholders to consider using fire to improve groundcover on their property.
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