Archives for February 5, 2007

Hello Jen,

I attach a couple of pictures of an unplanned recent fire at Scott River, Western Australia.

I don’t know the exact fuel ages before the fire, but obviously one area was much older (possibly 15 year old), and heavier littered, than the other (possibly 3 or 4 year old).

Scott River, 30th January 2007

Scott River, 30th January 2007

If you were a Noolbenger (Honey Possum, Tarsipes rostrata), which would you prefer?

Some claim that these animals would benefit from fire exclusion, from large areas, for twenty or thirty years.

I think Nyoongars (South West Aborigines) would have burnt many patches at about three years old, by lighting grasstrees.

Such fires would have trickled around, even in midsummer. They would have gone out in the late evening when the humidity rose, leaving many unburnt refuges.

Nyoongars would have had no trouble hopping, in bare feet, across burnt patches. They probably regarded Noolbengers as a tasty snack, flushed out by a mild fire – a perfect evening’s entertainment.

In recent fires in Fitzgerald River National Park, Noolbengers were running up fire fighters’ legs, and one was seen to swim fifty metres across an inlet.

Davey Gam Esq
aka Dave Ward
Western Australia

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Dave,

Thanks so much for the note with pictures. What a contrast. And I wonder what a honey possum looks like?

By-the-way, On Line Opinion has published an article by Mark Poynter this morning on forestry and fires.

Cheers, Jen