Latest Report
Prescribed burning in the Kimberley.
The latest analysis of fire patterns shows that the EcoFire project has successfully reduced extensive, intense wildfires across 5 million hectares of the Kimberley for three years running.
The EcoFire project aims to change fire patterns in the central and north Kimberley. If left unmanaged, the prevailing Kimberley fire pattern of extensive, mid-to-late dry season fires damages biodiversity, soil health and pasture for cattle, as well as affects cultural sites, and results in higher greenhouse gas emissions.
The project is outcome-focused: it delivers a strategic regional prescribed burning program coordinated across property boundaries and tenures. The effectiveness of the program is monitored using satellite imagery to describe fire patterns.
The latest EcoFire project report uses satellite imagery to test whether the prescribed burning program between 2007 and 2009 successfully reduced the extent of mid to late dry season fires. The analysis compares the fire scar patterns of EcoFire years (2007, 2008, and 2009) to those of pre-EcoFire years (2005 and 2006). Performance targets to demonstrate positive change were set for each of four spatial metrics.
The analysis shows that the seasonality of burning was shifted away from the late dry season and towards the early dry season, when fires are patchier and less intense. At the end of each year, unburnt vegetation was distributed more evenly and consistently across the EcoFire project area. These pattern changes are likely to benefit biodiversity, pastoral values, and cultural values.
EcoFire is a collaborative project between a group of neighbouring landholders, government and non-government conservation agencies and various regional bodies. The project began in 2007, and now includes 13 conservation, pastoral and Aboriginal pastoral properties (with four indigenous communities) and intervening Unallocated Crown Land, covering approximately 5 million hectares of the central and north Kimberley.
The Australian Wildlife Conservancy manages EcoFire from its base at Mornington Sanctuary. The project is funded by Rangelands NRM, through the federal government’s Caring For Our Country Program (previously NHT).
>> Download the report
