Bonegilla grassland ecological burn (Hume region)

Transcript

[Opening text on screen] Bonegilla Native Grassland ecological burn

Wednesday 8 March 2017

Aaron Kennedy, Burn Controller

[Aaron Kennedy] Here we are in Bonegilla Grasslands Reserve and undertaking the first burn for Hume Region for the autumn program.

Today we are doing an ecological burn. The burn today, this forms part of a larger burn program that we're doing in the Upper Murray.

We have 28 burns scheduled looking at treating approximately 12,000 hectares across the landscape.

Most of those burns are the vast majority of those burns are key asset protection burns.

Today we've got crews from Tallangatta, Minute Valley and our crew from Ovens as well assisting with the burn, or from Forest Fire Management Victoria.

[Text on screen] Glen Johnson, Senior Biodiversity Officer

[Glen Johnson] Yeah, well interestingly, this is part now of a regime of regular fire in this particular reserve that's been going on for about 27 years and it's an ecological burn.

It’s a community which is part of a EPBC (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation) listed, so federally listed box gum grassy woodland and the key attributes in this reserve are the native grassland and particularly the associated flora.

[Background voices talking]

[Glen Johnson] If we open up the reserve by doing this ecological burn and the regular burning it enables the orchids which are less competitive species, a threatened species. There is at least two threatened species of orchids and a number of other rare and endangered plants in this reserve.

They do well post burn and they are able to, in the open tussock spaces post burn, flower and seed and reproduce in that time.

[Machinery and flame sounds]

[Forest Fire Management Victoria logo]