Why we burn to conserve
As Queensland’s largest land manager, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) conducts planned burns all year round – incorporating science, technology and learnings from First Nations peoples – for a range of purposes, including:
- Public and community safety
- To reduce the likelihood or extent of impacts from bushfires
- Maintenance of ecosystems and ecological processes across the landscape
- To provide suitable habitat for wildlife
- To protect fire-sensitive communities and threatened species
- Management of weeds and pest animals.
Fire plays a crucial role in the evolution and maintenance of Queensland’s unique ecosystems, and First Nations people have used fire as a land management tool for thousands of years. The strategic use of fire has greatly influenced Queensland’s current biodiversity and continues to be used for effective land management today.
Throughout the year we are either engaging with stakeholders and partners, planning, prepping for or conducting planned burns, or evaluating and reporting on outcomes.
The timing of planned burns depends on their purpose and the conditions required to achieve that purpose. Most are undertaken when the soil and fuels are moist and well ahead of the hot, dry end of the year when we’re most at risk of bushfires.
Before you see smoke in the air, there will have been much planning, sometimes years in advance, and often many hours and days of preparations ahead of the day of the burn.
Learn how we burn to conserve.