James Cook University
Leasie Felderhof
Introduction | Objectives | Supervisors |
This project was initiated by the Tropical Savannas CRC in
response to a request for assistance by Ergon Energy after
wildfires caused power outages in their high voltage transmission
line in the Carpentaria Mineral Province. Ergon Energy wishes to
develop a fire risk prediction model and identify appropriate
vegetation management strategies for their 411 km easement. They
wish to minimise the risk of fire-induced outages and meet power
supply agreements with two major mines (Ernest Henry and Century
Zinc), as well as fulfil policies relating to sound environmental
management. The practice of maintaining ‘bare earth’
under power lines is no longer deemed sustainable, so fire induced
outages are considered to be an emerging problem. This applied
research issue needs to be placed in a broader landscape context to
address this concern.
The published research on fire ecology of the North-west
Highlands Bioregion (Sattler and Williams 1999) appears to be
limited to a plant species list for Lawn Hill National Park and
observations on the response of different plant species to a single
fire (Williams, Ball et al. 2002). Studies on fire in
acacia/spinifex dominated communities have been conducted elsewhere
(Noble 1989; Griffin 1990; Noble and Vines 1993; Craig 1999; Allan
and Southgate 2002), and may provide insight, however their direct
applicability to the vegetation dynamics in north-west Queensland
needs to be tested. Climate, specific vegetation types, landscapes
and land use patterns differ, so variation in fire occurrence and
vegetation response is expected.
Species composition and community structure reflect the fire
regime : the frequency, intensity, season, type and extent of
fires over time (Gill 1977; Whelan 1995; Smith, Craig et al.
1999). The frequency, season and extent of fires over time can be
determined using remote sensing (Russell-Smith, Ryan et al. 1997;
Edwards, Hauser et al. 2001), but fire intensity requires details
on species characteristics, fuel load and fire behaviour (Cheney
and Sullivan 1997). General relationships between fire behaviour
and environmental conditions have been established, but there are
disparities between different vegetation types and regions,
resulting in specific guidelines being prepared for some areas
(Griffin 1984; Burrows, Ward et al. 1991; Marsden-Smedley 1993). No
fire regime or fire behaviour studies have been conducted in
north-west Queensland, there is no information on fuel load
accumulation rates for acacia/spinifex communities, or the specific
outcomes of different fire behaviour on these communities.
Therefore, the aim of this project is to identify the key
determinants of the fire regime in north-west Queensland and
investigate how different fire regimes affect acacia/spinifex
communities.
The research objectives are:
- To describe the regional fire history (1998-2003) and identify
how climate and landscape features affect fire regimes at the macro
scale;
- To investigate the response of vegetation at sites with
different fire histories;
- To quantify fuel load accumulation over time;
- To determine the burning characteristics of different fuel
types;
- To investigate variation in fire behaviour in relation to local
conditions; and
- To investigate options for transferring site based information
across scales using remote sensing.
Principal Supervisors: Prof. David Gillieson (JCU);
Dr. Garry Cook (CSIRO)
Associate Supervisors: Dr. John Ludwig (CSIRO);
Dr. Jeremy Russell-Smith (Northern Territory Bushfires Council)
