2021-02-09 P&E Agenda - Item 6 - Attachment 2 - Draft Noosa Bushland Reserve Strategic Fire Management Plan 2021

                                                                   Potential Fuel
 Vegetation
                     Vegetation Hazard Class description           Load
 Hazard Class
                                                                   (tonnes/ha)
 1                   Melaleuca communities                         33
 2                   Open forests / woodlands - shrubby            30
 3                   Tall open forests                             28
 4                   Heath communities                             27
 5                   Exotic and hardwood plantations               26
 6                   Cypress and Casuarina communities             20
 7                   Open forests / woodlands - grassy             19
 8                   Acacia communities                            10
 9                   Coastal, fringing and dune communities        8
 10                  Riparian and fringing communities             8
 11                  Native grasslands, sedgelands and balds       5
 12                  Mixture of rural classes - mainly grassland   5
 13                  Cropping and horticulture                     5
 14                  Dry vine forest and vine thickets             5
 15                  Hoop Plantations                              5
 16                  Mixture of urban classes                      3
 17                  Rainforest                                    1
 18                  Mangroves and saltmarshes                     1
 19                  Sparse ground cover                           1
 20                  Water bodies                                  0

Table 3. Average vegetation fuel loads. Melaleuca paperbark forest and Eucalypt forest are
considered having potentially the highest fuel loads. This can change depending on recent fire
history. Calculation of current fuel loads can only be done through on ground assessment.
Source: CSIRO 2014; A new methodology for State-wide mapping of bushfire prone areas.

‘On-reserve’ risk assessment-biodiversity

Depending on the vegetation type, too frequent burning will encourage vegetation to become fire
dependant. Too infrequent burning can result in the loss of certain species that require fire for
germination and dispersal. Some vegetation types such as rainforest can be destroyed by fire. The
Qld Regional Ecosystem mapping for Broad Vegetation Groups (see Map 3) informs Tolerable Fire
Frequencies (TFI) for vegetation. For example fire dependent communities such as heath and fire
sensitive communities such as rainforest are vulnerable to different fire frequencies outside of TFIs
and are given a high priority for mitigation actions.




DRAFT Noosa Bushland Reserve Strategic Fire Management Plan                                  Page 12