Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tinder Box


In the past two weeks, as you can see, 98% of our undergrowth (mainly bracken) has died and turned to perfect fire fuel. When this happens, it's even easier to see the amount of dead branches, twigs and leaves underneath. Is this dangerous? Absolutely. We'd love nothing more than to find some magic way to get rid of it. But ...
A lot of this bracken is home to small birds like finches, a tonne of lizards and skinks, not to mention all the other invertebrate life that these all feed on. If the solution is burning, what happens to the wildlife? If the result is a huge bushfire, they die anyway.
At times, the dilemma seems so unresolvable, you don't know what to do, other than pray.
 
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