Cultural burning

• Cultural burning is a cultural fire practice used by First Nations people to improve the health of Country and its people.
• It has been used for over 60,000 years to manage land, plants and animals.
• The dispossession of land and loss of identify has meant that cultural burning has not occurred over large parts of Australia for many generations, but there is increasing awareness of the important role it can play in the mitigating the effects of extreme bush fires caused by climate change. Characteristics of a cultural burn
• Are small-scale burns that consider the types of plants and animals living in the area.
• • Do not burn the canopy. The canopy is sacred and provides shade and shelter for animals and provides seeds for future generations.
• • Are relatively cool and create a mosaic of burnt and unburnt country that reduce the intensity of bush fires during dry periods.
• • Burn in circles so that the animals have a safe way to escape.
• First Nations Australians knew they could use fire to manage their land and produce the foods they wanted, Fire management was carefully planned by those within the clan who were responsible for fire stick farming, back burning and cool burns.
• The benefits include: Fire assisted in changing patterns of plant growth and animal life across the many different landscapes of the continent.
• The grasslands were burnt to promote regrowth of lush plant life.

  Thousands of years of burning increased the size of the open grasslands.
• Scientists believe that small animals, such as the bilby were threatened with extinction when First Nations fire-stick farming was no longer being regularly practised.
• This encouraged the populations of a variety of the grass-eating animals, such as the kangaroo. Fire increased the availability of food for people who hunted and foraged.
• Bush potatoes and other edible seeds and ground plants flourished in the more open environment left by small-scale fires.