by ROBERT HOLLINGWORTH
THE fires of February 7 have had a marked impact on us all.
Many lost family, friends or property, and those who didn’t certainly knew someone who did.
A young friend of mine and his wife lost their lives after driving their two children and grandmother to safety. Let us hope we never see such an appalling catastrophe again.
Perhaps we can take some comfort from the fact that the odds of the event repeating are low - Black Saturday was by far the worst bushfire event in Australian history. Of course we must learn from the devastation, put strategies in place to minimise future occurrences and plan our future in the bush carefully.
But many of us are also alarmed by some of the recent reactionary ideas for fire prevention that threaten to reduce our unique native bush even further.
The appalling loss of life has no doubt sparked this backlash against the bush. And of course, the arguments are correct - if we get rid of all native vegetation the likelihood of future major fires is greatly reduced.
But is this the kind of country we want to live in?
In March The North Central Review ran the lead story, Roadside bombs threaten towns and included the emotive quote “roadsides are like fuses”.
Clearly the councillors mentioned were not calling for the removal of trees – such an idea would substantially degrade the Shire.
But just as some of the most attractive regions of Victoria rely on their natural bush beauty we would be wise to think carefully before turning our remnant roadside vegetation into bald park-like areas.
To look after our trees in a drying climate, the understory bush and bush litter may be crucial. It provides nutrient, holds moisture, and creates habitat for birds that control insects such as lerps, which turn our local trees brown.
And if the roadside material is removed, grass will grow. As we saw in the recent fires, pasture land, even with a minimum of grass, can burn just as fast and furiously as any other area.
I lived in Geelong in 1969 when a grass fire at Lara claimed 17 lives – people died in cars on the wide Geelong Highway. There was no “mess of dead trees” near the road, just grass.
One of the last items on any political agenda is wildlife. Naturally, in the light of the appalling loss of human life the loss of native animals pales.
Yet our unique flora and fauna defines who we are as a nation – visitors would hardly venture to the country if not for it. Do we want a region that offers nothing of the unique Victorian bush? Are we prepared to drive out our native birds, orchids, marsupials, butterflies, fish, frogs and reptiles?
After the recent fires countless millions of animals died. Hundreds of dead koalas were found lying in the ash and blackened ruins. Wildlife authorities have suggested that some species of rare fauna may now be on the brink of extinction.
A year or two ago a resident near Strath Creek told me there were lyrebirds still living in the treefern valleys of Mt Disappointment.
Today there is nothing at all living on the mountain and the few animals that may have escaped now face starvation.
The fires destroyed lives and livelihoods. But they also destroyed millions of hectares of unique and natural beauty.
Let us think carefully about how we manage what is left.
By all means control noxious weeds. But removing “dead trees, fallen branches and undergrowth” may not make a significant difference to our safety in a fire. Yet it could easily make a significant difference to the health and diversity of our remnant native bush.
Roadsides are indeed “significant areas”. Do we want something of the real Australia in our region, or do we have to go elsewhere for it?
(Robert Hollingworth is the author of the recent book, They called me the Wildman, based on the early history of the Tallarook region.)
