Environment Matters Spring/Summer 2022

Fire in focus For landholders across the Little Liverpool Range, fire management is an important skill. The regionally significant area that spans Ipswich, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim is an important biodiversity corridor.

The Little Liverpool Range Initiative (LLRI) was formed to work towards collaborative land management efforts at a regional scale. With this regional mindset in place, a recent focus for LLRI members has been increasing landholder understanding of fire management practices, in collaboration with the Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services. Effective fire management increases bushfire resilience for communities, and can assist in slowing down, or even bringing landscape-scale bushfires to a halt.

Fire also plays a role in regional ecosystems, with plants having developed to use fire as a stimulant for new growth. For landholders, important skills have been further developed such as personal fire management plans including fire breaks, sectioning a property for mosaic burning and understanding how and when to conduct burns. These learnings will be put into practice across the Little Liverpool Range, in ways that will benefit landholders’ properties and the biodiversity of this important area. To find out more see Llri.com.au Fire is a natural function of our environment, but the type of fire can make a big difference. Controlled, low- intensity hazard reduction burns are important for Ipswich ecosystems. Controlled hazard reduction burns: Only burn patches of an area, allowing wildlife to escape or take shelter Can be conducted in a way that avoids burning tree hollows Can promote increased flowering and seeding in native plants.

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