General News
10 November, 2021
Important lessons for future
THE work to rehabilitate the land following the St Patrick’s Day fires has been immortalised in a booklet.
THE work to rehabilitate the land following the St Patrick’s Day fires has been immortalised in a booklet.
Locals are able to get a copy of the booklet – which is an initiative of the Heytesbury District Landcare Network (HDLN) – for free.
HDLN landcare co-ordinator Geoff Rollinson said the booklet had been dubbed ‘From Devastation to Restoration’ and had been written by Kirsty Hawkes.
“Because we had such a central role in responding to the fire, one opportunity we saw was establishing a record of what that response was in far as working with landholders,”he said.
“It was just going to be a basic report, but some of the interviews and photographs we captured leant itself to being a booklet.”
Mr Rollinson said the fires affected people in different ways.
“(In the booklet) you get that personal encounter from how people responded to the fires,” he said.
“One of the first things landcare did was to state a collaborative effort with government and council to put together recovery efforts.
“That was particularly evident around Lake Cobrico.”
Mr Rollinson said the booklet also showed an important reminder for landholders now heading into summer and puts a value on planting trees on properties.
“The 2018 fires were a classic example of grassland fires and how they spread at such a rate,” he said.
“The value of trees is they actually slow down the spread of fire and some species are more resistant than others to fire such as Blackwood.
“It’s an opportunity to encourage landholders to plant trees to stop the rapid spread of fire.”
To obtain a copy of the booklet contact HDLN on 5598 3755.