Behind the burning curtain on Curtis Island
Issued: 29 Jan

Each year Rangers undertake a careful balancing act, planning the burns necessary to protect this beautiful stretch of Queensland island-life.

Photo credit: Lise Pedersen © Queensland Government

Issued
29 January 2025
Region
Green dense vegetation before the planned burn.
Ashes and smoke in the ground cover during the planned burn.
Reduced fuel load and ground cover regrowth after planned burn.
Green dense vegetation before the planned burn. Curtis Island vegetation before the planned burn. Photo credit: D. Dray © Queensland Government Ashes and smoke in the ground cover during the planned burn. During the planned burn. Photo credit: D. Dray © Queensland Government Reduced fuel load and ground cover regrowth after planned burn. After the planned burn. Photo credit: D. Dray © Queensland Government

‘Within a week of the burn we were seeing new growth from the grass trees in the area.’ Ranger David

Fire plays a crucial role in the evolution and maintenance of unique ecosystems right across Queensland. 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.

Curtis Island’s 35,600+ha of protected areas are managed by a team of Rangers including Ranger David. With detailed planning, they are able to target at-risk sections of Curtis Island National Park, successfully reducing overall fuel loads and giving native vegetation the much-needed chance to regenerate.

Protecting the natural beauty and values of Curtis Island’s national park, conservation parks and state forests is no easy task, but it’s one local Rangers manage with precision.

With sections of the island requiring a complex combination of burn types to protect threatened flora and reduce the overall fuel load available, as well as shoring up fire lines around key infrastructure while supporting  conservation of the area, it takes a special set of skills.

Map showing the planned burn area of Curtis Island.Open larger image

Mapping for a combination of protection and conservation burns with identified at risk flora.

While the hours spent on the fire lines are anything but a walk in the park, the longer hours spent planning for the eventual burn are where Ranger David and his team really shine. Combining previous burn data with on-ground inspections to confirm fuel loads and the exact locations of fire sensitive vegetation reveals only the tip of the iceberg that is our Rangers’  fire management skillset.

Once the location and ideal conditions were identified, fire behaviour and weather summaries commissioned from the Queensland Fire Department help the Curtis Island team determine the best day and time for the planned burn. Providing data on everything from humidity, wind direction and speed, ambient air temperature and hourly projected burn rates, these detailed reports create an integral framework for teams on the ground when it comes time for the burn.

Aside from the early indications pictured above, post-burn, post-fire evaluations help determine whether the purposes of the burn were met, and longer-term monitoring helps us determine if ecological and cultural outcomes are being achieved over time.

We are continually learning, adapting and improving our fire management practices to enhance our capacity and capability across the four annual stages of landscape fire management—prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, and for ecological and cultural purposes. This helps keep our parks and forests and nearby communities safe from the risk of bushfires and fosters a healthy environment.

Want to know more about how Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service uses fire as a conservation tool? Check out our Fire Management page for behind-the-scenes videos of recent planned burns.

Related parks

Related articles

All articles…