Resources

Indigenous Australian fire techniques

‘Fire Country: How indigenous fire management could help save Australia’ by Victor Steffensen, Hardie Grant Travel 2020.

Victor Steffensen is a descendant of the Tagalaka people. He was taught traditional knowledge of fires by two elders who became his mentors. This book is both a memoir and a window into the traditional use of fire to keep the countryside healthy. He discusses using cool burns to control weeds on country and help restore native plants and promote the growth of fresh grass. These slow burns enable wild life to escape and do not harm the tree canopy. Some properties where indigenous fire practitioners had conducted cool burns escaped damage in the devastating 2019-2020 fires which swept through the eastern states of Australia. 

‘Re-introducing traditional indigenous land management practices’, 2013, Kosciuszko to Coast Partnership and Friends of Grasslands.

Preface by Rodney Mason. This publication is about trialling the re-introduction of traditional indigenous land management practices proposed by Rodney Mason under the Kosciuszko to Coast Partnership. It shares his knowledge about the traditional use of fire and traditional ways of managing the landscape. Rodney Mason is a Ngarigo elder and a ‘traditional land manager and knowledge holder’. Available online.

ABC article ‘Indigenous fire methods protect land before and after the Tathra busfhire’, 2 Nov 2018 (Vanessa Milton) with accompanying video: 

The video and article compare the differences in new growth in areas burnt by the 2018 fire in Tathra, NSW and adjacent areas where there had been a cool burn as part of a cultural burning programme by the Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council. People involved in the cool burn programme discuss how hot fires favour plants which like a hot burn, allowing plants such as bracken to become dominant. Using cool burns enables a wider variety of small plants to emerge.

The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia by Bill Gammage, Allen and Unwin 2011.

Bill Gammage is an Australian historian and academic. The author discusses how indigenous Australians traditionally used fire to manage the landscape, creating open parkland across many parts of Australia, rather than the dense forests we often see today. 

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe Magabala books (reprinted 2019).

Includes a chapter about the traditional use of fire by indigenous Australians to shape the landscape.

Plants for erosion control

From Safer Gardens: Plant Flammability & Planning for Fire by Lesley Corbett

Certain plants are said to be good for erosion control, for instance on slopes or along creek banks. Erosion can become a big issue for people after fires. Because of the loss of vegetation there may be increased wind erosion on the bare soil. Land slippage and mud flows are potential problems after rain. Sometimes the heat of a bushfire can make soil water repellent. Runoff of ash and soil can reduce water quality in creeks, rivers and dams.

Refer to the Plant Flammability Table in the book to find out which of these plants are likely to have low flammability. Be aware that some of the following plants are very invasive (eg some of the acacias) and should not be planted anywhere near bushland.

Layt and Paananen’s research

According to research by Layt and Paananen (2007) Dianella caerulea ‘King Alfred’ is the best plant for erosion control, it strengthens soil 752% compared to bare soil.

Other dianellas that are useful are D. caerulea ‘Breeze’ which strengthens the soil 297%, D. tasmanica ‘Tasred’ which strengthens it 250%, D. caerulea ‘Little Jess’ which strengthens it 181%, and D. revoluta ‘Little Rev’ which strengthens it 161%.

They found that some types of Lomandra longifolia are also useful for erosion control.

L. longifolia ‘Katrinus Deluxe’ strengthens the soil 366% compared to bare soil, L. longifolia ‘Nyalla’ strengthens it 328%, L. longifolia ‘Tanika’ strengthens it 250% and L. longifolia ‘Katrinus’ strengthens it 216%.

Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis strengthens the soil 283% compared to bare soil.

Anigozanthos flavidus (tall kangaroo paw) strengthens the soil 113% compared to bare soil.

Liriope muscari ‘Evergreen Giant’ strengthens the soil 100% compared to bare soil.

They also looked at turf and said Empire Zoysia turf is best at strengthening soil. ‘Empire strengthened the soil (48%), compared to Couch (3.2%) and Kikuyu (9.7%)’ (p.17).

For information about which plants are best to use in special circumstances, such as areas of periodic flooding, look at their research paper, ‘Quantifying the strengthening of soil by commonly used plants and turf’ by Todd Layt and Ian Paananen, 2007. Available online. 

Radtke’s research

Californian researcher Klaus Radtke (2004) has researched fire in the urban-wildland interface and erosion control for steep slopes. He advised that selected deep rooted shrubs and trees will help anchor the soil and prevent soil slippage. He said if you want to use shallow-rooted plants as permanent cover on steep slopes they need to be interplanted every 3m or so ‘with hillside-anchoring, taller shrubs, or small trees’ (p.21).

He advised that the following low plants are useful for erosion control if interplanted with shrubs and trees:

Silver saltbush (Atriplex rhagodiodes) has a good rooting depth of 1.8m.

Australian saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata) has a fairly good rooting depth, 0.9 to 1.2m.

Prostrate rosemary (Rosmarinus prostratus) is fairly deep rooting, 0.9 to 1.5m.

Green cotton lavender (Santolina virens) is fairly deep rooting, 0.9 to 1.5m.

Some forms of ceanothus are useful too:  Ceanothus gloriosus (Point Reyes ceanothus root depth 1.8m), C. prostratus (prostrate ceanothus root depth 0.9 to 1.2m) and C. griseus (carmel creeper root depth 1.8m). However they don’t seem to be available in Australia.

He said that ice plants (Carpobrotus, Delosperma, Drosanthemum) are unsuitable for erosion control as they are not deep rooted. (Radtke 1983)

For more information see ‘A homeowner’s guide to fire and watershed management at the chaparral/urban interface’ by Klaus Radtke.  (2004) This paper looked at erosion issues and fire risk on hillsides in California. It is a City of San Diego Water Department, San Diego Fire Recovery Network and Conservation Action Committee California publication. Available online.

Nord & Green

Atriplex species - saltbush. Nord and Green (1977) said deep-rooted low-growing saltbushes do a good job of holding soil in place on steeply sloping terrain.

Cistus villosus – they said purple rockrose is used extensively for erosion control

Casuarinas

Casuarinas are often mentioned as good plants for erosion control.

However Layt & Paananen (2007) found that Causarina glauca (swamp sheoak) only strengthened the soil 54% compared to bare soil.

Orwa et al. (2009) said C. glauca’s ‘low branching habit and extensive litter production help reduce soil erosion’. They said it’s ‘been used successfully for dune soil and streambank stabilization’ (p.3).

Orwa et al. (2009) also have a section on C. cunninghamiana (river sheoak). They said it is ‘suitable for dune stabilization’ and its ‘network of fine subsurface roots’ are ‘valued for protecting riverbanks’. In Egypt it helps prevent ‘irrigation channels from being clogged up with sand’ (p.3).

The following plants are also considered useful for erosion control

Acacia dealbata - silver wattle (Boland 1986)

Acacia decurrens - green wattle (Boland 1986)

Acacia mearnsii - black wattle (Boland 1986)

Acacia saligna – golden wreath wattle (Branquart et al. 2018)

Ceratonia siliqua – carob trees (Tous & Ferguson 1996)

Further references:

Boland, DJ, 1986, ‘Genetic resources & utilisation of Australian bipinnate acacias (Botrycephalae)’ 26-37 in Australian acacias in developing countries, Proceedings of an international workshop held at the Forestry Training Centre, Gympie, Qld; Turnbull, JW (ed).

Nord, EC & Green, LR, 1977, ‘Low-volume & slow-burning vegetation for planting on clearings in California chaparral,’ USDA Forest Service Research paper PSW-124, Pacific Southwest Forest & Range Experiment Station, California.

Orwa et al. 2009, ‘Agroforestry database: a tree reference & selection guide version 4.0’, World Agroforestry Centre Kenya.

Tous, J & Ferguson, L 1996, ‘Mediteranean Fruits’ in Progress In New Crops, Janick, J (ed).