Refereed paper Fire management in Australia: the lessons of 200 years.

Ecologically sustainable forest management is government policy in Australia. Five key ESFM principles are: maintenance of all ecological communities and processes; public accountability; maintenance of ecosystem health and vitality by reducing threats from diseases, weeds and unnatural fire regimes; the precautionary principle; and adaptive management. Reduced occurrence of low intensity fire in recent decades is associated with fire control and forest health problems, indicating that forest fire management may need to further adapt if ESFM is to be achieved. This paper reviews changes in policies and attitudes towards fire management in public forests since European settlement and current knowledge of the impact of various fire regimes on forest ecosystems. A widespread perception that prescribed burning is a serious environmental threat appears to be based on misunderstanding of the objectives and practice of prescribed burning, and extrapolation from observations of wildfires. Some changes to policy in New South Wales are suggested that may encourage precautionary and adaptive management, and ESFM