Victorians in fire-prone areas are teaching locals not to be afraid of native vegetation, and to instead use "fire-wise" plants in their gardens to help protect homes and businesses during hot and dry summers.
Key points:
- "Fire-wise" plants with low flammability can slow bushfires down, helping residents to escape
- Gardens with fire-wise plants are being established in areas impacted by Black Summer bushfires
- A Landcare group in Far East Gippsland is creating a native seed bank as an insurance policy to protect plants
In the East Gippsland town of Nungurner, school students and the local Landcare network have planted a belt of fire-wise, or low flammability, plants to protect their primary school.
The plants, many of which are indigenous to the area, include the seaberry saltbush and the Gippsland grey box, which has bark that hugs the tree as opposed to ribbon bark that often catches on fire.
Other plant species in the belt include Juncus (commonly known as rushes), Brachychiton populneus (kurrajong tree), Indigofera australis (Australian indigo), Elaeocarpus reticulatus (blueberry ash), Brachychiton acerifolius (Illawarra flame tree), and the Brachychiton rupestris (Queensland bottle tree).
Metung local and ecological artist Catherine Van Wilgenburg, who coordinated the project, hoped more people planted fire-wise gardens for increased protection from bushfires.
"Our goal is to spread the idea of fire-wise gardens everywhere, remembering that the plants are going to be different in each area," she said.
"Fire-wise plants are not only going to slow the bushfire down, but they're going to protect and support biodiversity because they're indigenous plants."
Changing attitudes
Fellow Landcare member Heather Oak has lived in the area for 37 years and has experienced major bushfires, including those of Black Summer, which destroyed more than 230,000 hectares across East Gippsland during 2019-2020.
The fires threatened more than 80 communities and approached the popular tourist towns of Lakes Entrance and Mallacoota.
Ms Oak said people were frightened after the bushfires and the first thing they did was rip up plants.
"A lot of people will eradicate all vegetation around their property and that's not necessarily a good idea because that allows the embers to go directly into your house," Ms Oak said.
"What we're trying to encourage [is for] people not to be afraid of our local vegetation. It's really helping us."
Ms Oak said while the fire-wise plants would eventually burn in extreme fire, they would buy people extra time to escape.
"It's protecting us to a degree from the radiant heat, and it's protecting your assets from the embers," she said.
"It's that dreadful heat that kills us.
"The other good thing the plants do is they keep the moisture in the ground [because] they're putting shade on the ground, and these are all things that do help on the day or in [the] build-up to the day."
Protecting assets
Further east in Orbost, the Far East Gippsland Landcare Network is working with the Moogji Aboriginal nursery to propagate native seeds, many of which were lost in the Black Summer bushfires.
Far East Landcare facilitator Josh Puglisi said the nursery intended to plant a fire-wise belt to help stop a catastrophic fire impacting it and the native seeds.
"Here at Moogji … they're keen to plant some green, lush plants around the outside of their plantations, which hopefully would help resist the fire for a short period of time," he said.
Mr Puglisi said techniques, such as building fire-wise belts and propagating native seeds, were just some of the ways people were adapting to the bushfire threat.
"I think people have come to that realisation that this is the new normal, and they're building techniques to help them practically, as well emotionally, cope with this new environment we find ourselves in," he said.
"We're hoping that once the seed banks are created, and there's a good number of plants, if they're impacted again then we have an insurance policy that protects them.
"We know there is going to be more wildfires, so it's just a matter of time, and this summer's already heading in that direction."
Mr Puglisi said work on the native seed bank started immediately after Black Summer and since its inception 13 different species from across East Gippsland had been propagated.
"It's been really inspirational for me to see just how invested so many people in this region are in the natural environment that surrounds them," he said.
Facing a challenging summer
Nungurner CFA and landcare member Jess Bury experienced Black Summer too.
Ms Bury said knowledge could help ease anxiety, especially as the community faced what was predicted to be a challenging summer.
"The more knowledge that we can gather and that we can help our kids gather, the better," she said.
"Knowing the properties of plants, knowing the behaviour of fire, all of that helps.
"Preparation, knowledge and survival [go hand in hand]."
Ms Bury said she was starting to see the Country Fire Authority (CFA) incorporating fire-wise plants into its guidance on preparing properties for fire.
"The CFA already puts out a brochure on fire belts on farms, for coastal gardening, and for rural gardening," she said.
"[The brochures outline] what plants are more suitable closer to the house, further away from the house, and what plants are not suitable to have closer to built-up properties.
"So there is already a connection there, but I think that connection will continue to grow and that awareness of not all plants are bad [will increase]."
Right plant, right location
CFA senior program manager Geoff Morris recommended people look at its guides on landscaping and plant selection as part of their fire preparation.
"We'd encourage people to look at our landscaping for bushfire guide, which provides advice around the types of plants and how they can be located on a property," he said.
"We know if you get the right plant, and they are appropriately located in the garden, that they can reduce the risk of exposure of a house to radiant heat and to embers, and thus reduce the risk of loss of houses.
"We'd also encourage people to maintain their gardens.
"A key part of fire-wise plants is also the maintenance of those plants over time."