The Hotspots Fire Project

Key words: Indigenous land management, fire, ecological burning, community education

Waminda Parker and Lana Andrews

Fire is a fundamental driver that continues to shape our ecological communities. Fire is also a fundamental component of Aboriginal cultural practice. Aboriginal communities throughout NSW are currently seeking opportunities to engage with contemporary fire management practices with an emphasis on revitalising and incorporating traditional knowledge to improve cultural and biodiversity management of their country.

The Hotspots Fire Project (Hotspots) is a NS training program which provides landholders and land managers with the skills and knowledge needed to actively and collectively participate in fire management for the protection of life and property while at the same time ensuring healthy productive landscapes in which biodiversity is protected and maintained. It operates under the guidance of the nine project partners in the Advisory Committee, and is delivered through the coordinated efforts of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW and the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Hotspots recognises that there are many long term benefits in supporting Aboriginal communities to revitalise their cultural fire knowledge and practices. These include, but are not limited to, reducing the threat and impact of inappropriate fire on Aboriginal owned country, improving fire management practices in support of optimising biodiversity conservation (therefore building in landscape resilience) and improving Aboriginal community health by enabling communities to re-engage and practice fire and biodiversity management.

Working with six Aboriginal community groups, Hotspots has developed a training program that caters to individual property fire management planning. These map-based property plans aim to explore ways to plan for and implement fire management strategies which address cultural, biodiversity and risk management values.

Already Hotspots has worked with three Local Aboriginal Land Councils (Cobowra, Darkingjung, Jali, and Wanaruah) and two Indigenous Protected Areas (Boorabee/Willows and Wattle Ridge). Hotspots continues to look for opportunities to maintain working relations with Aboriginal communities and already for 2012 Hotspots is aiming to work with Ngulingah and the Nambucca Heads Local Aboriginal Land Councils and the Mingaan and Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporations.

Contact: Waminda Parker, Hotspots Manager, Hotspots Program: Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Tel: +61 2 9516 0359, Email hotspotsfireproject@nccnsw.org.au; or Lana Andrews, Coordinator Hotspots Programme, NSW Rural Fire Service, Tel: +61 2 8741 5555, Email: hotspots@rfs.nsw.gov.au. For further information visit www.hotspotsfireproject.org.au