RANGELANDS residents have access to new fire history mapping technology to improve fire management decisions and planning.
Multiple partners have collaborated to enable the extension of a fire history map across the Rangelands.
Through a cross-sector initiative driven by Rangelands NRM, five partners co-funded the extension of the North Australian and Rangelands Fire Information (NAFI) website map viewer, which is administered by the Charles Darwin University NAFI team.
The WA Rangelands experience problematic fires consisting of overly large and intense wildfires.
In addition to posing a threat to life and property, the fires damage biodiversity, pastoral production, cultural heritage and tourism.
Rangelands NRM innovation development manager Quinton Clasen said the Rangelands Community Fire Forums identified the need to extend active fire mapping and hotspots beyond the Kimberley region in order to provide several years of historical fire scar mapping.
"Users can view the seasonality of fires in recent years, which will enable better fire management decisions and planning across the Rangelands," Mr Clasen said.
"What's really exciting is that this tool is what land managers and fire practitioners have asked for, and the co-funders and Rangelands Fire Leadership Group have simply found a way to make it happen."
The existing NAFI website is a mapping tool that is widely used by fire practitioners across the Kimberley, Northern Territory and Queensland.
At this month's launch of WA Rangelands-wide coverage, it has 2013 to the present histories plus hot spots.
Histories back to 2003 will be made available over the remaining year.
he NAFI provides information that is quick, effective and simple.
It works at the property and broader levels, so it is a very useful tool to support landscape scale efforts.
Burnt areas are presented in a way that is practical to the user, and is colour coded by month, alongside hotspots of active fires.
Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa fire officer Gareth Catt said Martu have always managed country through carefully applied fire.
"We are happy to help fund this extension of NAFI because it is a practical tool for us and other organisations who don't have access to relevant fire history information,'' he said.
Partners include Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa, Roy Hill mining, Great Victoria Desert Biodiversity Trust, the Pilbara Corridors Project and the Australian government.
Roy Hill is providing funding as a component of its landscape-scale Threatened Fauna Offset program, to enable additional years of fire scar mapping to be accomplished.
"Other users, such as Roy Hill fire managers, will greatly benefit from the outputs of this project in being able to plan emergency responses and provide an early warning mechanism to protect infrastructure that stretches from Port Hedland to the mine site, just north of Newman," said Roy Hill environment and approvals manager Susanna Beech.
More information: see http://www.firenorth.org.au/nafi3/.
