Golden Plains Shire Council successfully and safely burned two small sections of Red Gum Reserve in Batesford on Friday 21 September.
Our Environment Services team took the lead on the day, conducting the burns under strict prescriptions to minimise the risks.
The burns help keep our communities safe by reducing fuel loads – the shrubs, bark and leaf litter that fuel bushfires. Regular burning reduces introduced grasses, which produce high fire fuel loads and are a fire hazard, but are not adapted to the use of fire. In lower fire fuel load native grasslands which are adapted to regular burning, fire removes thatch build up which opens up inter-tussock spaces for other native herbs and forbs and regenerates native grasses into a fresh flush of growth and seed production.
The Batesford burns kicked-off our new burning program, which will see Council building on our planned burn capacity and better enabling us to manage fire risk and improve biodiversity outcomes in Council reserves. The new program also supplements the current burning program carried out by the volunteers from CFA brigades.
To find out more, please contact our Environment Services team on 5220 7111.