Released 10/03/2021
Canberrans can now comment on the draft 10-year Regional Fire Management Plan to help protect our land, environment and the community from bushfire.
This is an opportunity for the community to provide feedback on the regional fire plan from the Parks and Conservation Service, which is supported by new fire management zones developed by the ACT Emergency Services Agency.
Executive Branch Manager of the Parks and Conservation Service Daniel Iglesias said the draft Regional Fire Management Plan outlined how bush and urban areas would be managed as large parts of the region recover and regenerate from the 2020 bushfire season.
“It outlines the different ways the ACT will manage the fuel load in different fire risk zones across our parks, commercial forests and nature reserves,” Mr Iglesias said.
“The plan is based on new modelling technology to keep Canberrans safe from future bushfires while protecting our threatened species and ecological communities.
“The catastrophic 2019–20 bushfire season demonstrated that we must continue to be proactive in mitigating the risk of bushfire impact on life, property, and the environment including important cultural assets.
“Strategic bushfire management zones and Regional Fire Management Plan are crucial in achieving this and the community and local environmental groups have important knowledge to inform the work across our urban reserves, Namadgi National Park and Tidbinbilla.”
Commissioner of the ACT Emergency Services Agency, Georgeina Whelan, said the draft plan was supported by bushfire management zones that were recently reviewed by the ACT ESA.
“The bushfire management zones reflect the changing environment and growing population in the ACT. They were identified using the best information we have on vegetation, fuels and location in the landscape,” Commissioner Whelan said.
“The asset protection zones are largely within and around the city, providing a defendable space to allow residents and firefighters a degree of safety before, during and after a bushfire.
“The strategic firefighting protection zones help reduce the intensity and spread of fires across large areas of landscape and include easy access points such as fire trails, roads and creeks.”
Community meetings will be held in coming weeks on the draft plan and the new fire management zones.
The community can also comment on the plan, which includes online mapping resources that show proposed fuel management activities within the new fire management zones, on the ACT Government YourSay website until 2 May, 2021.
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