THE NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Plans to conduct the State's largest hazard reduction burn of the year this week in the 95,000 hectare Wadbilliga National Park that straddles the coastal escarpment west of Bermagui.
The 7,000-hectare burn has been approved by the Bega Bushfire Management Committee and is one of almost 40 burns planned for national parks across south east NSW this autumn.
NPWS regional manager Tim Shepherd says the burn plan had taken considerable effort to develop.
"In all likelihood this is the largest single fuel reduction burn that NSW has seen for some time and consequently has involved intensive planning with a lot of logistical considerations.
"It will be conducted in two stages. The first stage will be a six-kilometre ground burning operation along of the southern side of the razorback firetrail which runs east west across the park.
This will be carried out by NPWS and Rural Fire Service fire fighters.
"In the second stage an NPWS helicopter will drop 20,000 aerial incendiaries into the unburnt bushland on the ridge-tops to the south beyond the area burnt from the fire trail."
Mr Fisher said he expected the burn would take at least four days to implement although the service could be monitoring the fire for several weeks or until sufficient rain falls to extinguish it completely.
"This burn is the second last from a list of 14 that were planned under the Wadbilliga National Park Fire Management Plan.
"When complete we will have burnt almost 20 per cent of the park in fuel reduction operations over the past six years.
"There is a key difference, however, between this burn and the previous ones in that this will be conducted primarily for ecological reasons although there is the benefit of reduced fuel loads in another part of the park.
"Over the past six years our priority has been carrying out strategic burns designed to reduce fuel for the purpose of protecting neighbouring properties.
"Now that they have been completed according to the plan we are turning our attention to burning areas in order to conserve certain plants and animals that would benefit from a fire that mimics the natural processes under which this landscape has evolved for millennia.
"We do this because we are frequently forced to extinguish fires that begin naturally through summer lightning strikes in order to prevent fire escaping the park and causing harm to our neighbours.
"This has meant that we are inhibiting natural processes and the evolutionary impact of fire.
"As a consequence some parts of the park are not experiencing fire as often as they need.
"Wadbilliga National Park was established in the late 70s but we have no record of a fire in this part of the park. Its quite possible there has not been a fire in this section for 60 years and scientists are telling us that the plants and animals in this part of the park will benefit from a burn.
"This is all part and parcel of the complexities of managing a national park.
"In the next few months we will be revising the park's fire management plan to consider future strategic and environmental burning," Mr Shepherd said.
"I would emphasise that the timing of this fire is determined entirely by the availability of very precise conditions which allow us to conduct a safe and effective burn. We only receive a very narrow window of opportunity to do this at this time of the year so we must take every opportunity that presents itself.
"I expect people in the region will see a lot of smoke over a few days depending on which way the wind is blowing," Mr Shepherd said.
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