Community approach to bushfire management

In the Northern Territory (NT) many stakeholders are responsible for different types of land, each with their own fire management goals.

These tenures vary in size, from small rural neighbourhoods to large pastoral stations and vast Aboriginal Land Trust areas.

The NT has a lot of land, but the resources are limited.

A more coordinated community approach to bushfire management planning is needed because:

• more people are living in the urban and rural areas
• of the spread of non-native grasses that can fuel fires
• the climate is changing and there are new ways we are using the land.

Community bushfire planning workshops

There are many stakeholders across the NT managing a patchwork of land tenures, each with different fire management objectives.

The scales of these tenures range:

• from rural residential subdivisions
• to pastoral stations
• to extensive Aboriginal Land Trust areas.

The need for a more coordinated whole of community approach to bushfire management planning was created due to:

• population densities increasing at the urban and rural interface
• the spread of high fuel load exotic grasses
• climate variability and emerging new land uses.

Participation from a diverse range of stakeholder groups is important to the fire management planning process.

Bushfires NT can help community fire management planning to assist in a shared responsibility approach to fire management.

Working together with neighbours

At a property scale, bushfires don't follow property lines, so its important to have good relationships with your neighbours.

Below are what you can do:

• identify neighbours and talk about how they manage their land and fires
• discuss contact details including emergency contacts
• find ways to work together with neighbours to prevent bushfires along property borders, such as:
  • planned burning
  • weed management
• discuss shared resources such as:
  • heavy equipment
  • firefighting equipment
  • personnel
• find local volunteers like:
  • bushfire brigades
  • fire and emergency response groups
  • Aboriginal ranger groups who can help with bushfire management.
• think about how you can work together with your community to build better fire management skills.

Resilience and development strategy

Bushfires NT has developed the Community Bushfire Resilience and Development Strategy to prepare for bushfire threats and provide valuable:

• insights
• resources
• strategies.

As a community, we need to establish strong relationships to encourage:

• shared responsibility
• increased self-resilience.

To find out about your roles and responsibilities as a landholder, and the engagement principles advocated by Bushfires NT, read the Community Bushfire Resilience and Development Strategy PDF (2.6 MB).