How the Indigenous controlling fire hazard

Indigenous fire practitioner, Victor Steffensen, who runs workshops on land management, shares his views on how Indigenous practices could help prevent bushfires.

Victor Steffensen

Victor Steffensen demonstrating at the National Indigenous Fire Workshop 2014 Source: National Indigenous Fire Workshop

Ancient traditions of land management by fire have been handed down to generations of Aboriginal people.

Mr Victor Steffensen has been teaching traditional Indigenous burning practices for the past two decades.

He said this week's bushfire crisis sent a clear message to politicians that current land management practices are not working.

"We can't keep doing this," he said.  "It's really frustrating to see country get torched like that when you know they're not doing anything about it."

 

Mr Steffensen said the dangerous conditions resulted from a build up of fuel loads and decades of mismanagement.

"People are too scared to burn because of how dry it is," he said.  "There are grasses that are up to the roof and landscapes that have no vegetation except for large amounts of rubbish.  "The bottom line is that we need to start looking after the landscape."

 

 


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