3. Bushfires in the ACT

3.5 Activities

Investigating bushfire impacts

Bushfires can have profound impacts on communities, affecting not only physical health but also mental health and wellbeing, social connection, and people’s daily routines.

Questions:

1. Reflect on your own experience of bushfires. For example, can you remember Black Summer? What stands out to you the most?
2. What do you think are the main risks to the ACT community from bushfire and bushfire smoke?
3. What can the ACT Government do to minimise those risks?
4. What can members of the community do to minimise those risks?
5. What are the long-term issues the ACT Government and community could be facing after experiencing such a large and high-risk bushfire?

Part 2: Environmental impacts and recovery

Bushfires can have devastating ongoing impacts on the environment long after the fire itself has been extinguished. Intense and widespread burns can affect ecosystemsA biological community of interacting living and non-living things. for decades.

Questions:

1. What do you think were the main impacts on native flora and fauna in the aftermath of the Orroral Valley fire?
2. There was heavy rainfall in the days after the Orroral Valley fire. What do you think were the environmental impacts of this? Which type(s) of animal do you think would be most affected?
3. The Orroral Valley fire occurred just 17 years after the last large bushfire, which burnt much of the same area. Some species tolerate or even thrive with frequent fire, while others struggle to recover. Choose one of the ecosystems below and do some independent research into its response to frequent fire. How is this species recovering in the ACT in the aftermath of Black Summer?
   Alpine Ash Forest

   OR

   Natural Temperate Grassland
4. What post-fire environmental management activities do you think should be undertaken in the ACT to help native ecosystems recover?

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