Preparation KEY to Surviving Bushfire Season

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Experts warn NOW is the time to prepare for bushfire season and protect your family and home.

South-Western Region Bushfire Safety Officer Steele Davies from the Rural Fire Service says wetter than normal weather has given land managers more time to prepare for bushfires this season.

“The fire risk this year is not the same as the last couple of years where we had ongoing drought and high risk owing to tinder dry conditions - but this year we have had a lot of grass growth owing to the higher than normal rainfall, so there’s likely to be a higher chance of grass fires,” Steele Davies said.

According to QFES, if you answer YES to any of these questions, you are at a heightened risk of bushfire.

● Do you live within a few kilometres of bushland?

● Does your local area have a history of bushfires?

● Do you have trees and shrubs within 20 metres of your home?

● Do you live along the coast near scrub?

● Do you live on a farm or near paddocks?

Officer Davies said while the season is shaping up to be less intense than 2019, land managers should not be complacent and things can change at the drop of a hat, so it’s best to always prepare for a worst-case scenario.

“Start preparing now, don't prepare when you get the warning message. This year we have a bigger window and have more options to do mitigation,” Officer Davies said.

“There are a number of ways to manage risk in terms of grass, bush, and trees. Grazing is a key mitigation measure to manage bushfire risk, but you can also try slashing, grading and using herbicides,” he said.

“Rural Fire Services also supports the use of controlled burning to reduce fuel loads. So, get a Permit to Light and get started.”

“Be proactive, be prepared, and

be aware of what you’re doing.”

Undertaking mitigation methods can reduce the risk of a fire spreading from your property to your neighbours, and it can also protect you in an event where your neighbours property is alight.

Southern Queensland Landscapes agreed, saying fire management is a key component of overall land management, and there are a number of ways to manage bushfire risk on your property.

SQ Landscapes Senior Project Officer Natasha Mylonas said reducing timber and other dry organic material on the ground will assist to decrease the intensity and spread of fire in a bushfire event.

“Cool burning techniques shared by First Peoples are being used by more and more property managers. Not only is it an effective tool for reducing bushfire risk, it also preserves the habitat of native animals and encourages native plants and animals to come back into the landscape,” Natasha Mylonas said.

“Your preparations do impact yours and your neighbours’ properties. I’ve seen the contrast after a bushfire near Millmerran, where the scrub and sheds were annihilated on one side of a track, but on the other side that had used cool burning techniques to reduce risk, the fire carried with far less intensity, saving most of the scrub,” Ms Mylonas said.

Rural Fire Service regularly posts local bushfire information and warnings on the Queensland Fire & Emergency Services website.

“Monitor the information and warnings on the QFES website. It will show where fires may start and things to be aware of to protect you, your property and your family,” Officer Davies said.

“Embers can travel hundreds of metres from the source of the fire. So, when there are fires nearby, close your windows, remove curtains, doormats, shade cloths, and remove dry matter. Water down mulch piles and be aware of the direct and radiant heat,” he said.

“My piece of advice is, be aware of your risk and be proactive. Service your slip-on units and pumps, maintain fire access trails, talk to your local fire warden, talk to your neighbours and work out a fire plan.”

TIPS FOR PREPARING

● Clear your roof gutters of leaves, twigs, bark and other flammable debris.

● Check and maintain fire-fighting pumps, generators and water systems.

● Clear out flammable items near your house. Get rid of the firewood, mulch piles, boxes and outdoor furniture you’re no longer using.

● Seal gaps in external roof and cladding.

● Control your weeds - especially grasses as they can have a high fuel load and be quite flammable.

● Trim low-lying branches around your home to a height of two metres from the ground.

● Mow your lawn, whipper snip near access paths and clear out dry grass, dead leaves and branches.

● Display your house number at the roadside - as it can make emergency services help you faster.

● Prepare your response: gather PPE, get your first aid kit up to scratch, prepare an evacuation kit, and review or create your Bushfire Survival Plan here: https://bushfire-survival-plan.qfes.qld.gov.au/

You can find your local Neighbourhood Safer Place, an allocated refuge centre here:

https://www.qfes.qld.gov.au/prepare/bushfire/neighbourhood-safer-places

Find your local fire warden: https://www.qfes.qld.gov.au/safety-education/using-fire-outdoors/fire-wardens

Find information on the latest bans, restrictions and key contacts (Toowoomba): https://www.qfes.qld.gov.au/fire-bans/toowoomba-regional-council

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Strategy on the Agenda at SQ Landscapes Board Meeting

by Caleb Back • 31 Oct, 2023

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SQ Landscapes' Annual General Meeting 2023

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start

Learn How Sophie and Adrian Transformed Their Wallet and Soil at “Bellhaven Brook”

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

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How Camels and Cool Burns are Transforming Risdon Stud

by Caleb Back • 02 Aug, 2023

Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.

Cultural Burning Returns to Mt Tabor on Bidjara Country

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Fire is crucial to maintaining our landscapes. That’s according to fire practitioner Robbie Williams, who accompanied Southern Queensland Landscapes earlier this year to bridge fire practitioner knowledge with First Nations Peoples across the southwest. Robbie has since returned to the region - this time accompanied by members of our Charleville team as he hosted training along the slopes of the culturally significant site of Mt Tabor, just outside Augathella. “This is the continuation of what we achieved last time we were in the southwest,” Robbie Williams said. “Last visit, SQ Landscapes connected me with local First Nations mobs including Kunya, Bidjara, Mardigan, Boonthamurra, Kooma, Kullilli, and Murrawurri,” Mr Williams said. “During this visit, many of these mobs agreed to trial fire practitioner training for young men in the area to bring burning back onto Country; and that is exactly what we’re here to do today!” he said. “It’s really inspiring to see these communities taking on the opportunity to learn about burning and we’re hoping this will develop into businesses the local mobs can build to manage their Country.”

Digital Artist Named Overall Grand Prize Winner of First Nations Art Competition

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Winners in the Southern Queensland Landscapes and University of Southern Queensland’s 2023 First Nations Art Competition have been announced to a crowd of more than 150 people in Toowoomba. Overall Grand Prize and Digital Medium Category winner has gone to Robert Claude Manns for his piece ‘Mandan’. "I wanted to express the fractured relationship that I have with some of the Mandandanji People. Unfortunately many of us feel connected to our Nation, but not always the people," Robert Manns said. "My piece was assisted through artificial intelligence (AI) art and I found that to be a really powerful tool in discovering how I wanted this art to go," Mr Manns said. "I've always been artistic, and I wanted to explore Indigenous art, but I wasn't great at it and I found the style difficult to personalise. AI and digital art has allowed me to connect with Indigenous art in my own way and explore things the way I wanted," he said. "I'm really glad it worked out and people liked the art!" "In truth, I thought I might only get an encouragement award, but to first see I won the digital art and then the Overall Grand Prize was just spectacular. There were tears in my eyes. I wasn't expecting to get so far!" Robert Manns said. "I want to thank everyone who made Indigenous art through the millenia; otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Mr Manns said. "Shortly before he passed away, my dad put me onto the competition and I thought I'd give it a go. I wish he was here to see it, as he was my inspiration for making this art." he said. "He was my inspiration and my supporter through it all."

Diversifying Your Agricultural Business into Retirement to Lever Off Natural Assets

by Kellie Stewart • 04 Jul, 2023

By Kellie Stewart When land managers Phil & Anne Donges entertained the idea of retirement they looked to the natural assets of their property located between Yelarbon, Inglewood and Texas to provide the answer. For almost 90-years ‘Glenarbon’ had supported generations of the Donges family; with key crops and land use pivoting numerous times as a result of market demands, economic climates and practice change. “Glenarbon was established back in 1932; our family came out then and it was to grow tobacco, that was in the middle of the depression,” Phil Donges said. “Five years ago we sold our main farm about 10-kilometres down the road and we decided to go into semi-retirement keeping about 100-acres of the original farm along about 1-kilometre of the Dumaresq River,” Mr Donges said. “We’re using Glenarbon now to run a few head of steers and then we’ve also gone into this eco-tourism where people can come and enjoy the environment like we like it ourselves,” he said. “We saw the ecotourism as an opportunity to give us some extra income by going into the camping side of things, but also to diversify our business so that we could in tougher seasons rely less heavily on livestock and more on the natural assets of the farm.”

Landscape restoration and rehydration reverses years of damage

by Kellie Stewart • 05 Jun, 2023

It’s amazing how quickly a landscape can rebalance itself according to Jarrod and Sam Thomson of ‘Gum Gully’, located some 14 kilometres south of Drillham in Queensland. The couple purchased the 820 hectare property in 2020 and since then have been working to reverse landscape damage caused by years of drought and overgrazing. “Gum Gully is a very diverse farm with a lot of timber ranging from Mallee box to belah, sandalwood and a lot of native pastures,” Jarrod Thomson said. “It’d been really knocked around by the droughts and our main goal was how do we bring back this place to make it a viable enterprise again?” Mr Thomson said. “Quickly realising that we had to rehabilitate the land and rehydrate it fast; desertification had set in and we were struggling to grow galvanised bur,” he said. Rehydration works included some contouring and soft engineering works combined with farm dams to slow the flow and manage water across the property to maximise each rain event regardless of whether it was 10mm or 100mm.

Tree Planting and Truth Telling at Gummingurru

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Reconciliation was on the agenda at Gummingurru for National Reconciliation Week. First Nations, local community, and avid gardeners came together for a round of truth telling and tree planting. Located north of Toowoomba, Gummingurru is an ancient and sacred site for Western Wakka Wakka Peoples, serving as a stopping point for First Nations Peoples on their way to the Bunya Mountains. Western Wakka Wakka man Shannon Bauwens, a First Nations man from the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC) led the event with a smoking ceremony and a round of truth-telling at the yarning circle near Gummingurru. “Reconciliation is about talking to each other. Coming together and making something positive as a community,” Shannon Bauwens said. “This yarning circle we are standing in now represents thousands of years of storytelling,” Mr Bauwens said. “Today is all about sharing our stories and finding new ways to come together as a community; whether you are Indigenous or not,” he said. “We have people from all different Nations, from Western Wakka Wakka, to Bunjalung, Gomeroi, and more.”

Lorinda Otto Joins Southern Queensland Landscapes’ Team as Incoming Roma Node Manager

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Meet Lorinda Otto. She is Southern Queensland Landscapes’ latest addition to the team as our Relationship Lead and the incoming Roma Node Manager for the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Innovation Hub. Lorinda joins our team with a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and community networking, working with government, non-government, community organisations, farmers, small businesses, and apprentices/trainees. “I’m all about connecting land managers and helping them understand how to become connected with innovation, upskilling, resilience, and cost-saving programs.” Lorinda Otto said. “My parents were farmers. Farming is in my blood and I have a passion for our environment. Outdoor experiences have helped shape who I am today.” Ms Otto said. “I was born in South Africa and I attended university in Johannesburg and initially started in the dental industry as an oral hygienist, but when we emigrated to Australia, I decided to be a stay at home mum for three years before later working at Queensland Health for nine months.” she said. “Following my work with Queensland Health, I worked briefly in the energy industry at Powerlink for 18 months which opened a door for me to work at Santos in their administration, community engagement, and data catchment fields.” “That opportunity led me into the government sector where I enjoyed five years in the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as their Senior Field Officer conducting key stakeholder engagement, supporting small business, and also monitoring the progression of apprentices and training programs,” Lorinda Otto said. “I worked across seven western shires, many of which are in SQ Landscapes’ catchment including Bulloo, Murweh, Ballone, Maranoa, Quilpie, and the Western Downs - alongside Banana and Blackall,” Ms Otto said. “I want our agricultural sector to be strong and healthy and I believe I have a role to play in that!” she said. Lorinda’s team includes Ally Southern, an Adoption Officer based in St George. They will work closely across the SQ Landscapes region to help land managers drought-proof their property and prepare for a more resilient industry. As the incoming Roma Node Manager, Lorinda will have lots on her plate, but she’s eager to rise to the challenge and bring her unique style to the role!