Fire and Gouldian Finch - Part two: fire management

Tida Nou, part of WWF Australia’s species team, recently took part in a back-on-country trip with Helen Pitman, Nyaliga Traditional Owners and Wunggurr Rangers to Karunjie Station in the east Kimberley region.

Here she tells us her story:

Fire is a natural process in tropical savannas. The prevalence of fire in northern Australia is due to the monsoonal climate, in which the monsoonal rains promote rapid grass growth, followed by rapid drying out in the dry season, creating a highly flammable environment.

The systematic fire regime practiced by Aboriginal people over tens of thousands of years consisted of small-scale patchy fires lit for ceremony, hunting, travelling and protecting key resources. Unfortunately, this system has broken down, through depopulation of land and conversion of large areas to pastoral properties.

The current fire regime of northern Australia is dominated by frequent, extensive, hot, destructive late dry season wildfires. The regular incidence of high intensity wildfires is taking its toll on the landscapes and the wildlife it supports. For instance, the Gouldian finch, which used to be recorded in flocks of tens of thousands, now only occurs in small parts of its former range and has undergone significant population declines. The key threat to the Gouldian finch and other seed-eating birds is inappropriate fire regimes.

The “Fire and Gouldian Finch” project grew out of the recognition that action is required to address this issue in the east Kimberley region. The project commenced in 2006, by Nyaliga Aboriginal Corporation, with support from the Kimberley Land Council (KLC), Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) and WWF-Australia. It focuses on the Karunjie and Durack River properties, which contains a range of escarpment and riverine habitats. One key objective of the project is to improve fire management on the properties for broad biodiversity and cultural outcomes.

The Gouldian finch is known to occur in small numbers on Karunjie Station. It is hoped that finch and other seed-eating bird populations on the property will respond positively to improved fire regimes and that regular, long-term monitoring of populations can detect a response.

Back-to-country trips in the first two years of the project involved relationship building with stakeholders, recording traditional ecological knowledge and identifying and establishing long-term monitoring sites for the threatened Gouldian finch and purple-crowned fairy wren.

Part one | Part three