The management implications of fine fuel dynamics in Bushlands Surrounding Hobart, Tasmania

Hobart's bushlands consist of eight distinct vegetation types ranging from open woodland to wet forest. Fine fuel accumulation characteristics are distinctive across this range of vegetation types and mostly seem to conform to the function W = W(1−e)+ l·92(e), although there is considerable scatter around the lines of best fit in many types. This information contributes to determining the applicability and appropriate frequency of controlled burning as a means of reducing fuels to protect life and property from wildfire. Regular burning of grassy vegetation should ensure relatively safe zones within the urban/bush matrix. It is likely that burning heathy forest types at frequencies that would ensure safe fuel loads would be ecologically detrimental. It would be difficult and futile to use fuel reduction burning in wet forest types as a means of protecting life and property. The fuel accumulation characteristics and the existing ecological knowledge of Allocasuarina verticillata shrubland suggests that fuel reduction burning would be counter-productive in this vegetation type