It has not all been caused by people, (unless everyone is a pyro-maniac and has deliberately lit fires), lightening can also naturally cause the same effect! Fire in forests has not been entirely caused by people, despite some people being pyromaniacs, because when there is a fire and our forests are threatened, people risk their lives to save what is being lost!

It is not caused by animals unless they have the ability to cause fire, (Malle Hens with their incubation nests?), for animals value the forests and trees for habitat although spontaneous combustion can occur where damp, compacted debris can accumulate.

Where catastrophic losses of conservation have been lost, when all has been lost it has been caused by FIRE! In a management regime the only way to manage the risks is, where possible, to remove them. So let us have a look at the possible causes of fire, our forests and how they can be managed through a logical "risk assessment" process. Fire is caused by lightning. This is natural. How can we manage this. We can't! We can put up lightning rods to create earth throughout a forest but we cannot totally control and manage lightning! Fire can also be caused by spontaneous combustion of compressed debris. How can we manage that? Malle fowl make use of this for their nests to incubate their eggs but are we prepared to remove them, for they are part of the ecosystem. Can people removing dead firewood help in this effort - yes! But we are told removing the debris removes vital habitat! Strangely, when all is lost by fire the habitat and the ecosystem returns - largely by itself! Firewood collection thereby not only provides comfort for those who gather firewood it also reduces the threat of fire and the destruction of conservation values. If we use fuel reduction burns, we are not only using the highest risk method for reducing fuel we are also inviting total lost?

You might spend as many man hours attempting to control a modified fuel reduction burn as you will spend controlling a full-on bush fire, for if the fire gets away from you because of wind, heat etc, aspects of nature that you cannot control, then all will be lost! I believe DNRE have experience with this! Another means of reducing the risk is to identify the areas that you want to preserve/conserve - usually "old growth" forests. To protect this central core there must be a reduced threat by means of a buffer. This can be accommodated by thinning the trees and fuel surrounding the core-protected area, for if fire occurs through lightening - all will be lost anyway!

And so logging selectively is a genuine means of reducing the threat from fire and losing all values! Additional internal management of risk can be related to people. We must ensure we have managed areas to have BBQ dinners - make them electric or gas and ensure they are within a cleared area and close by to water. Take the electricity underground so that if there is a threat, it is minimised!

People must not use matches or smoke when using our native forests, except in low risk areas, for to do so is to cause a threat! The banning of matches and other ignition implements can be encouraged, thereby minimising the threat of fire, not by excluding the people!

When the "tree huggers" are trying to impose their values upon you, by removing you from the forests, remind them that fire is the threat and not the people. Remind them that fire occurs naturally from lightening and that keeping people out will not prevent the loss! Remind them that to save the forests there must be additional preventative measures from within, as well as the external factors - this can only occur with forest thinning, (not fire), mechanical undergrowth clearing with firewood collection, (not fire) and the very, very, very last option is fire itself because in itself, it is the greatest risk! I trust these thoughts will assist you in achieving your objectives and mine! Man has lived on this planet from the beginning of time and he has always been part of the environment, including trees. Not wilderness areas, Royal National Forests, National Forests or World Heritage areas can protect forest values from fire for it can always occur naturally, from lightening!