Darren Coyne
Lismore council will urge federal environment minister Greg Hunt to allow hazard reduction burns to continue in the Nightcap National Park.
Mr Hunt’s department intervened after a fire started by NSW National Parks and Wildlife officers burnt out 30 hectares of rare coachwood trees, and endangered threatened species.
Neighbours alerted the minister’s department to the fire, which resulted in an order that National Parks stop its burning program in the world heritage-listed area, and consult the department about future burning programs.
Councillor Greg Bennett put forward a motion last night to contact the minister asking him to intervene.
Cr Bennett warned that a bushfire could rip through the area with catastrophic consequences.
He said there had not been a fire in the area for decades, which meant there were high fuel loads in the area.
‘Failure to reduce these fuel loads is negligence as was witness with the recent out of court settlement for the Victorian bushfires where the Department of Sustainability and Environment paid out over $100 million in damages,’ he said.
‘Burning off is nothing new for the Australian environment with the traditional owners of the land using the practice for tens of thousands of years.
‘It’s a practice that needs to continue if we are to avoid a catastrophic bushfire on the north coast.’
But deputy mayor Simon Clough said the issue wasn’t as simple as portrayed by Cr Bennett.
‘This relates to the National Parks using a helicopter to drop incendiary devices to start a fire on Mt Nardi which burned thirty hectares of coachwood forest and endangered threatened species,’ he said.
Cr Clough claimed National Parks were using bad mapping and were dropping incendiary devices to start fires they could not control.
Cr Vanessa Ekins said there appeared to be a mismatch between the areas being burned by National Parks and the areas that needed burning.
She also questioned burning areas of wet schlerophyll forest, which often harboured emerging rainforest plants.
‘Only some ecosystems benefit from burning and I don’t think it’s appropriate in this case,’ she said.
But Cr Bennett said he was a member of the northern rivers bushfire management committee, which supported the hazard reduction program.
‘We’ve got to support the experts on the ground. Let’s give them back the power to do their jobs,’ he said.
All councillors supported the motion except Crs Jenny Dowell, Vanessa Ekins, Glenys Richie and Simon Clough who voted against. Crs Bennett, Graham Meineke, Ray Houston, Greg Bennett, Gianpiero Battista, Mathew Scheibel and Isaac Smith supported contacting the minister.
