Burning the bush / the malleefowl

The Wedderburn CMN Committee recently had a guest speaker, Jeff Wilkie present to the group the current situation regarding DSE planned burning. Mr Wilkie invited the WCMN to submit a map showing areas that the group believed should be excluded from burning by being classified as a Zone 4. The map attached is the response to Mr Wilkie’s invitation.
The CMN is very concerned that the small resident population of malleefowl remaining in the Wedderburn area will be pushed to local extinction should planned
burning commence in this area. The Malleefowl is a species requiring long unburnt mallee vegetation in which to breed ie unburnt for greater than 50 years. As such it is not appropriate to be burning any mallee vegetation that is zoned for ecological purposes.
There can be no ecological reason to burn. The CMN is also concerned at the large tracts of land already burnt around Inglewood in the last ten years or so. The Committee believes that there is no ecological reason to burn any further mallee vegetation in that area. The committee would like to stress that they are not opposed to planned burning where township protection is concerned but that ecological burning should only be conducted where ecologically justifiable. An analogous map of malleefowl habitat in the Inglewood area was also submitted to the Fire and Land Division of DSE.
Article by Peter Morison DSE on behalf of the Wedderburn CMN