Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests
Two high intensity wildfire events, 70 years apart, burnt large areas of Mountain Ash forests in the Central Highlands, Victoria, Australia. Both resulted in Royal Commissions (the strongest form of judicial inquiry in Australia) as to their cause(s) owing to large losses of life and property. Here...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe57e |
| _version_ | 1827870370159394816 |
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| author | Mark A Adams Tina L Bell Mana Gharun |
| author_facet | Mark A Adams Tina L Bell Mana Gharun |
| author_sort | Mark A Adams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Two high intensity wildfire events, 70 years apart, burnt large areas of Mountain Ash forests in the Central Highlands, Victoria, Australia. Both resulted in Royal Commissions (the strongest form of judicial inquiry in Australia) as to their cause(s) owing to large losses of life and property. Here we tested the hypothesis that site ‘wetness’—determined using a Topographic Wetness Index—is a major determinant of the extent of fire (% of sample points that burnt) within high intensity wildfire events and across tenures. We show that wetness dominated the extent of fire in these forests in both the 1939 and 2009 wildfire events. Mountain Ash forests are now strongly skewed in their distribution, with wetter and older forests favored by protected tenures (e.g. National Parks) designed to meet needs for water and conservation. In 2009, the extent of fire at the stand scale in water catchments and conservation tenures was twice that in 1939. In land tenures with multiple uses (e.g. State Forests), the extent of fire was one-third less in 2009 than it was in 1939. Topographic controls on water availability, and major droughts, will likely continue to dominate the extent and likelihood of fire in these forests. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-919808e415684dcba254229e9d580c96 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-919808e415684dcba254229e9d580c962023-08-09T14:55:30ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116404402110.1088/1748-9326/abe57eTopography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forestsMark A Adams0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8154-0097Tina L Bell1Mana Gharun2Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, Vic, Australia; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, AustraliaSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, AustraliaInstitute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich , Zurich, SwitzerlandTwo high intensity wildfire events, 70 years apart, burnt large areas of Mountain Ash forests in the Central Highlands, Victoria, Australia. Both resulted in Royal Commissions (the strongest form of judicial inquiry in Australia) as to their cause(s) owing to large losses of life and property. Here we tested the hypothesis that site ‘wetness’—determined using a Topographic Wetness Index—is a major determinant of the extent of fire (% of sample points that burnt) within high intensity wildfire events and across tenures. We show that wetness dominated the extent of fire in these forests in both the 1939 and 2009 wildfire events. Mountain Ash forests are now strongly skewed in their distribution, with wetter and older forests favored by protected tenures (e.g. National Parks) designed to meet needs for water and conservation. In 2009, the extent of fire at the stand scale in water catchments and conservation tenures was twice that in 1939. In land tenures with multiple uses (e.g. State Forests), the extent of fire was one-third less in 2009 than it was in 1939. Topographic controls on water availability, and major droughts, will likely continue to dominate the extent and likelihood of fire in these forests.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe57ewildfirebushfiretopographywater availabilityland tenuresustainability |
| spellingShingle | Mark A Adams Tina L Bell Mana Gharun Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests Environmental Research Letters wildfire bushfire topography water availability land tenure sustainability |
| title | Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests |
| title_full | Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests |
| title_fullStr | Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests |
| title_full_unstemmed | Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests |
| title_short | Topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within Mountain Ash forests |
| title_sort | topography not tenure controls extent of wildfire within mountain ash forests |
| topic | wildfire bushfire topography water availability land tenure sustainability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe57e |
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