Hi Klaus, Rob and others
I've been in the Top End since1975 and a biological consultant/specialist
guide since 1983-84.
I agree, Klaus, that It is now much harder to see skinks, small dragons,
other reptiles and mammals in the open forest and savanna woodlands.
Indigenous people here were not nomadic but cycled through various habitats
depending on the seasons. Also, I've been out with my sisters (one now
dead, the other in her eighties), and wherever we chanced upon country that
hadn't been burnt for years and was a tangle of grass, they'd burn it
telling me they had to "clean it up". They said others gossipped if one's
country was not burnt to keep it (tidy).
We also burnt country where the grass was long and dead. However, the only
land burnt regularly was around outstations and tracks. In the case of the
former, burning was to keep snakes away.
I gave up visiting Gunlom years ago. It was being burnt too regularly for
White-throated Grasswren, to re-establish.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 3460 NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
PhD Candidate
http:// www.denisegoodfellow.com
http://web.mac.com/goodfellowdl
http://www.earthfoot.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
http://www.ausbird.com
http://birderstravel.com
on 8/11/08 10:51 AM, Kirrama Wildlife Tours at wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Hi Rob and Birding-Aus,
>
>
>
> This email is in regards to Rob's comment about bush fires.
>
> I can only speak about the northern part of Australia, from Cape York to
> Northern Territory and the Kimberley.
>
> I am sure the fire policies down south are quite different, and I am of
> course in support of protecting houses and communities from bush fires.
>
>
>
> However, we have a big problem in the north.
>
> Most Aboriginals used to be nomadic, and they burnt to hunt, gather or
> travel, but that was in a cycle of about 10 years. National Parks in general
> attempts to follow this to maintain bio-diversity by patch-burning on a 5
> year plan.
>
> Guess what, it's not working!
>
>
>
> I visit the northern areas regularly, and I see certain sections burnt every
> year.
>
> Driving through Kakadu N.P. over the last years I took note and 4/5th was
> burnt already in September every year. It should be the other way around,
> 1/5th instead. The same applies to Cape York. Talking to pilots in the
> Kimberley, they told me 80% is burnt every 2 years.
>
> These fires in the north are happening from May right up to the wet season,
> which include of course destruction of nests in the breeding season.
>
> I don't know if you have been in the north recently, but you can walk for
> hours in woodlands on Cape York, Kakadu and the Kimberley without
> encountering any lower life forms like insects, spiders (no cobweb anywhere)
> or seeing skinks. It looks great after the wet season with all looking lush,
> but bio-diversity is definitely down.
>
> We are creating green deserts.
>
>
>
> Graeme Chapman once told me, after he successfully photographed all the
> Grasswrens in Australia, that Spinifex has to be a certain size before they
> consider nesting in it, and that is about 7 years. So burning these areas
> every 5 years would be still too much. (I wish at least for this plan to
> work, but it doesn't!)
>
> Every area should to be looked at individually and worked out for fire
> planning, like Artemis Station does for the requirements of
> Golden-shouldered Parrots (breeding season is February - May).
>
>
>
> Fire issues are complex, and I agree with your statement in regards to coal,
> oil and gas is definitely spot on, but your statement about not to worry
> about bush fires is definitely NOT in the interest of Australian birds.
>
> Let's hope for a better future,
>
>
> Klaus
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Kirrama Wildlife Tours
>
> Klaus & Brenda Uhlenhut
>
> PO BOX 1400
>
> INNISFAIL
>
> QLD 4860
>
> Australia
>
>
>
> Phone: 07 4065 5181
>
>
>
> Kirrama Web Page:
>
> http://www.kirrama.com.au
>
>
>
> Web Directory of Australian Birdwatching:
>
> http://www.ausbird.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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