Burnoffs - Threat to Biodiversity - Moron Thinking at Work

You know one day some greenie moron will try and teach Great White Sharks to eat tofo instead of seals. I'll like to be there when he tries it - I'll give the Shark a nice tofo greenie treat.

In Southern Australia, due to the nature of the environment, the trees have evolved to take advantage of the propensity of the land to burn by adapting themselves to it. Thus we have trees which actually required fire to germinate.

But unfortunately that simple bit of science goes over the heads of greenies who prefer to prevent backburning - the controlled burn off of forest residue ie a controlled bushfire during Winter time. See if you have the authorities burning part of the forest during Winter - you get rid of a lot of the flammable twigs, dead leaves, dead bark, and other forest debris that lie in the forest.

A fire is actually not easy to start. Don't believe me - take a matchstick - take a big piece of wood - and try and light it on fire. The damn thing won't burn.

You need 3 parts to get the fire going.

1. Obviously the spark, the fire
2. Fuel to get a quick flame - this can be small twigs, bark, leaves, stuff which is easy to burn. They burn fast and powerful. Get enough together and you will get an explosion of flames.
3. Medium pieces of wood - No.2 will burn fast and burn quick - you need something to keep it going.
4. Big Wood - Tree Trunks, Logs, big stuff like that - to keep the fire going for days. They actually don't burn that easily because they are so dense. They need the first 3 to get it going.

Now in a controlled burn - you set the time and day - preferably when the weather is cold and you don't get strong wind to escalate the fire. During that burn - only a small section of the forest is targeted and so you can control it better. After that you move on... its called forest management.

Even as Victoria reels from the Black Saturday catastrophe, we get moron greens who are trying to stop the Govt from thinking about better forest management. In their pretty world, gum trees are best left alone to shed their leaves by the ton every year, until they build up enough tinder to burn the whole world down.

Anyways read the following article...

Burnoffs following Victoria bushfires a 'threat to biodiversity'
Siobhain Ryan | February 12, 2009
Article from:  The Australian

CONTROLLED burning would be declared a key national threat to biodiversity under a new proposal before government that has been slammed as dangerous to life and property.

While Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday gave Victoria carte blanche to do all it needed to control its deadly bushfires, without review by federal environment laws, it emerged he will be asked next year to decide whether prescribed burning to reduce fuel loads puts plants and animals at risk.

A Department of Environment spokeswoman confirmed yesterday it had received a public submission to list controlled burning as a "key threatening process" - the same category that applies to climate change, land clearing and feral cats, pigs and foxes.

"This recommendation is due by late 2010," she said.

Victoria's bushfire tragedy has focused attention on the management of its state forests, national parks and other Crown land, which make up a third of the state but contributed four-fifths of the fires started since Australia Day.

Among councils to resist controlled burning was the Yarra Ranges Shire, which was hit heavily by the Black Saturday bushfire disaster.

In a document from 2007, its emergency resource officer said there was too little known about its effect on flora and fauna and called for "rigorous" environmental assessment of prescribed burning, taking account of species' breeding seasons and the Leadbeater's possum zone.

"The Shire of Yarra Ranges has not undertaken prescribed burning on public land under its control for a number of years," the document said, citing a lack of expertise and the risk of lawsuits.

... morons...

Read the rest here: The Australian