Lily+India+Abigail+C.+Meg

The Black Saturday Fires, 2009

1 A map showing the affected areas including:

Kinglake National Park

Cathedral Range

Yarra Ranges National park

Lake Mountain Ski Area

Keppel Falls and Lady TalbotDrive,

Marysville

Wilson’s Promontory 

media type="custom" key="10331732" width="400" height="400" align="center"


 * 2 On the map, indicate (by use of a key) some of the endangered species affected in these areas (use p4 and p 11 onwards in the preliminary report about the Victorian bushfires or recent resources to assist you). **

**The question is on our map.**

 3 A summary of ** three ** endangered species (with a brief description about them) and an overview of how they were affected in the fires and an evaluation of how their recovery is going.  **Leadbeater’s Possum**



The Leadbeater’s Possum is an endangered possum that was decimated from the Black Saturday Fires. The possum is about 10 cm long and weighs around 90 grams. The Leadbeater’s is a nocturnal possum and rarely ever seen. ** Sooty Owl﻿ **

The Sooty Owl is an endangered owl found in Eastern Australi<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">a. It is a medium to large owl and is ** nocturnal. The Sooty Owl likes to hide in hollow tree trunks, caves and in trees. This bird is also rarely ever seen. **   <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">The Ground Parrot is a distinctive, slender bird. Usually the bird is never seen due to how shy it is. The Ground Parrot is also known as the Swamp Parrot or Button-grass Parrot. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">The Black Saturday fires started spreading around Victoria on February 7th, 2009. Australian wildlife experts estimated that around a million or more animals might have died in the fires. For the animals that survived, most of them depended on nature to provide them with homes. For example, the Leadbeater’s Possum depended on hollow trees to live and breed in but when the fire burnt down the forest; the possum’s had nowhere to live.
 * <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">The Ground Parrot **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">There have been a lot of projects going aro <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">und Victoria to help the <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">recovery of some injured animals. Some of the projects are: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">1. Small Mammal Recovery at Wilsons Promontory, which will monitor the effect of fire on the small mammal assemblage in Wilsons Promontory National Park. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">2. Fire Impacts on Leadbeater’s Possum, which will assess the impact on the nationally endangered Leadbeater’s Possum. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">3. Owl Recovery in South Gippsland, which will re-evaluate large forest owl management areas in South Gippsland to determine whether owls survive and/or return to fire affected areas. **4 A written piece which explains the background to the fires and why these regions are so vulnerable. Describe the state of recovery for these areas now (eg vegetation grown back etc).**

Before the Black Saturday fires King Lake was a quiet country area of southern Victoria, along with Marysville and Wilsons Promontory not many people lived in these towns, and hardly anyone actually knew about them, but when the fires hit, that all changed. News Channels across the world were tuned into the Victorian black Saturday fires. Some say that the fires on Saturday February the 7th and Sunday February the 8th top the historic Ash Wednesday fires in 1984, but it is clear that the devastation caused by Black Saturday is much more continuous and ongoing than Ash Wednesday. It is estimated that around 1,000,000 (1 million) animals died in the Black Saturday bush fires alone, with a further 2 million in care at places like the R.S.P.C.A animal care, and Hillsville sanctuary. Around $4,369,950 has gone into the recovery of the animals since the fires. The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires occurred in the area of King Lake, Cathedral Ranges National Park, Wilsons Promontory and Marysville because of the deep forestation in the area. The fires destroyed around 90% to 95% of the surrounding Flora. The fires also made many of Australia’s native animals endangered; these animals include the Leadbeater's Possum, the Sooty Owl and the Australian favorite, the Koala. One of the many reasons that the fires were so devastating is because most people living in the areas of King Lake and Marysville had recently moved there from a suburban or city area, without any knowledge whatsoever about fires. Therefore when the fires hit, these people were unable to assist in any way because of their lack of knowledge, which made the whole event even more uncontrollable. First speculations of the fires were that they were deliberately lit; but as more information comes to the table we can see what truly happened on Black Saturday. ‘Fire bugs’ deliberately lit some of the fires, but others seem to have been caused by lightning, also there were a few cases where electrical faults were the cause. Lightning was the cause because when the fires were lit in King Lake, lots of hot air rose up into the clouds, when that hot air mixes with the cold air that is where lightning is formed. Lightning struck when emergency services were already stretched to the limits, so the results of the fires that were created were catastrophic. There are many possible causes for the fires to have occurred in these areas, some of the main ones are that there is a lot of fuel available to be burnt; The areas affected are highly vegetated with dry forests and undergrowth, there has also been a lot of encroaching happening with humans taking over bush lands, but without properly looking after them. There also needs to be a lot more back burning in the areas of King Lake and Marysville with the conjunction of large scale controlled burning so that tragedies like this will never happen again in the future. In the previous 10 years to this natural disaster, there had been a major drought running for more than 1 decade, this is on e of the most dangerous causes for the fires, and with global warming getting worse these events are unlikely to halt in the near future if we don’t do something about it. The regrowth of the vegetation has been phenomenal. Everywhere you look around where it used to be black char, it is now mostly covered with the green grasses and fungi. However the next 5 years will be critical, if there isn’t enough regrowth in the area there are fears that the habitability level for animals and humans alike will drop to an all time low. If we don’t act now, the wonderful landscape surrounding us that we are so very lucky to have just might disappear for forever, we need to act. The Black Saturday Bush fires on the 7th and 8th of February 2009 were a tragic event that will hopefully never happen again, but if we do not act now in a bid to save our environment, we will lose it forever.

**5. A description of how the animals have been supported after the fires. Select a specific group who are assisting eg Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria Wildlife Organisation, RSPCA, Melbourne Zoo etc.Describe the role that this organisation has played in assisting the affected endangered species**

In the Black Saturday fires more than one million animals perished within the four hundred and fifty hectares burnt. There was a great deal of support that was given throughout Victoria and many donations given all around the world. One of these groups was the Healesville Sanctuary. Healesville Sanctuary took in hundreds of animals that were injured in the fires. These animals included the Leadbeater’s Possum, The Lace Monitor( Goanna), Honey Eaters, and the Eastern Ground Parrot. Although many animals perished, many animals were saved, thanks to these sorts of groups. Animals have recovered extremely well with the help of many organisations. They say that a fire like this comes around every 100 years. Healesville Sanctuary has been running for 75 years and this is by far, the worst that they’ve seen

<span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">6 Imagine the Lorax appeared to talk about the impact on the endangered species following the fires. What action would he suggest needs to be taken to avoid a similar disaster happening in the future?

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">The amount of damage that was done to the species affected by the bushfires was phenomenal. The R.S.P.C.A estimated that around one million animals were killed in this tragic event. It was on such a large scale that smoke from the fires was sighted over Antarctica (in March). <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Bushfires don’t just happen. They have to have a cause. These bushfires caused so much damage because of all the encroaching we have done on bushfire prone areas. The fact that humanity is really unsustainable has a huge amount to do with events like this that are predicted to become more and more frequent. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Not only does it have a huge effect on humans but the impact on species of animals living under the fire is crazy. Most of the animals die of suffocation opposed to being burnt. When the fires started, the clean air stopped. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Now that we have talked about the cause and damage, let’s talk about the solution and prevention. There are many ways to prevent bushfires. The best way to do this is to look at the causes and turn it around to ‘how do I prevent that from happening in the future?’ So, the main causes that we can prevent are leaving an outdoor fire of some sort unattended or not extinguished properly. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Another problem is leaving rugs, clothes, towels etc. near an open fire or hung over a heater overnight. Often these create fires and if the house is in a vegetated area, this could cause a major bushfire or a house fire that could have fatal consequences. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Another thing that we could take action by doing, is outdoor jobs such as clearing the gutters, mowing the lawn and simple gardening strategies. The fires need fuel, so if we don’t give them any, then they won’t have the force or the energy to stay alight.

**<span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">7 Create a question related to the endangered species affected in the fires and research it to provide a written response. ** **<span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Ar ****<span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">ound how many native Australian animal species were affected by the bush fires and what could this mean for Australian wildlife? **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">In the Black Saturday bushfires, around one million (estimated by R.S.P.C.A) were affected. This is a huge number and will cause a massive decline in population for the involved species. In the fire area over 400,000 hectares were burnt by around fourteen fires. There were 27 //Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act// species listed in the fire area. With 19 Flora and Fauna //Guarantee Act// listed species in the fire area at the time. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The main species affected by this event were the Lead Beater Possum, the Sooty Owl, the Spotted Tree Frog, the Crayfish, the Sambar deer and many, many more. The total estimated funding is around 4,369,950 for the recovery of flora and fauna in the bush fire affected areas.

Bibliography


 * Ign�� >��K_p��le='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> <span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Preliminary Report: impact of 2009 bush fires on nature and wildlife 2009, Wilderness.org.au, accessed 26 August 2011, <http://www.wilderness.org.au/files/preliminary-report-impact-2009-vic-bushfires-on-nature-and-wildlife.pdf>.

8. //Major Victorian bushfires in the 2000s.PNG//, 2009, Map, Wikipedia, accessed 01 September 2011, < >.
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Google Maps Australia //<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> 2011, Google-Imagery 2011, accessed 24 August 2011, <http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-25.335448,135.745076&spn=44.616539,56.513672&z=4&vpsrc=0>. ||

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">What is the state of our backyard? //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> 2011, Wikispaces.com, accessed 24 August 2011, <http://tcwhatisthestateofourbackyard.wikispaces.com/home>.

//<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The Australian Black Saturday Bush fires 2009 //<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> 2011, Google-Imagery 2011, accessed 31 August 2011, <http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2009/11/the-australian-“black-saturday”-bushfires-of-2009/>.

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Toorak College wiki’s //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">2011, Toorak college, accessed Thursday August <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> 25th 2011, < http://toorakcollegewikis.wikispaces.com/>

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Yahoo Black Saturday Bushfires 2009 search command, 2011, accessed Wednesday August 24th, 2011, <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> < http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=black+saturday+bush+fires+2009>


 * <span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">'Black Saturday Bush fires', in //Wikipedia//, accessed 23 August 2011, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires#Environmental_impacts>.
 * <span style="font-family: Aparajita,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Preliminary Report: impact of 2009 bush fires on nature and wildlife 2009, Wilderness.org.au, accessed 26 August 2011, <http://www.wilderness.org.au/files/preliminary-report-impact-2009-vic-bushfires-on-nature-and-wildlife.pdf>.

What happened on that terrible week?











<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wednesday, 28 January 2009 <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Delburn fire commenced in Central Gippsland; arson suspected.[|[20]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wednesday, 4 February <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Bunyip State Park fire commenced.[|[21]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Saturday, 7 February (Black Saturday) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mid-morning – Bunyip State Park fire jumped containment lines; no other major fire activity. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Late morning – many fires sprang up as temperatures rose and wind speeds increased. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">11:20 am – power lines were felled in high winds igniting the Kilmore East fire (Kinglake/Whittlesea area). The fire was fanned by 125 km/h (78 mph) winds, entered a pine plantation, grew in intensity, and rapidly headed southeast through the Wandong area.[|[22]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">12:30 pm – Horsham fire commenced.[|[23]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Early afternoon – ABC Radio received calls from residents of affected areas supplying immediate up-to-date information on fire activity. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2:55 pm – Murrindindi Mill fire (Marysville area) first spotted from Mt Despair fire tower.[|[24]][|[25]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">3:04 pm – temperature in Melbourne peaked at 46.4 °C (115.5 °F). <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4:20 pm – Kilmore East fire front arrived at Strathewen.[|[26]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4:20 pm – fire impacted Narbethong. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mid-afternoon – smoke from Kilmore East firestorm prevented planes from mapping the fire edge. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4:30 pm – number of individual fires across the state increased into the hundreds. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4:30 pm – fire commenced at Eaglehawk, near Bendigo.[|[26]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4:45 pm – Kilmore East fire front arrived at Kinglake. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5:00 pm – wind direction changed from northwesterly to southwesterly in Melbourne (see Fawkner Beacon Wind chart for 7 February 2009). <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5:10 pm – air temperature in Melbourne dropped from over 45 °C (113 °F) to around 30 °C (86 °F) in fifteen minutes. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5:30 pm – wind change arrived at Kilmore East and Murrindindi Mill (Kinglake/Marysville) fire fronts. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5:45 pm – Kilmore East fire front arrived in Flowerdale. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">6:00 pm – Beechworth fire commenced.[|[27]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">6:00 pm – Kilmore East fire smoke plume and pyrocumulus cloud reached 15 km (9.3 mi) high. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">6:45 pm – Murrindindi Mill fire front arrived at Marysville.[|[28]][|[29]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">8:30 pm – Victorian Health Emergency Co-ordination Centre notified Melbourne hospitals to prepare for burn victims. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">8:57 pm – CFA chief officer first notified that casualties had been confirmed. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">10:00 pm – Victoria Police announced an initial estimate of 14 fatalities.Kilmore East and Murrindindi Mill fires merged to form the Kinglake fire complex.[|[30]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wilsons Promontory fire ignited by lightning.[|[31]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Victoria Police increased estimate to 25 fatalities. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Tuesday, 10 February <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Spot fires from Kinglake complex fires merged to form the Maroondah/Yarra complex.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Tuesday, 17 February <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Six fires still burnt out of control, with another nineteen contained.[|[32]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Containment lines surrounded 85 per cent of the Kinglake–Murrindindi complex.[|[32]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south fire burned in Melbourne's O'Shannassy and Armstrong Creek water catchments.[|[32]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Bunyip and Beechworth fires almost contained. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">y, 23 February <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Temperatures in the mid-30 degrees Celsius (mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit), northerly winds, and a cool change precipitated a flare up of many of the fires, and ignited several new fires. The most significant new fires were in the southern [|Dandenong Ranges] near [|Upwey], south of [|Daylesford], and in the Otway Ranges. Weather conditions directed previously burning fires in the Yarra Ranges towards settlements in the upper Yarra Valley, but the fires were of a low intensity and were quickly contained.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Friday, 27 February <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Bunyip fire still burnt within control lines in the Bunyip State Park and State Forest areas.[|[33]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex north fire burnt within containment lines on the southeastern flank.[|[34]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south fire activity continued in areas close to several towns in the Yarra Valley near both Yarra Glen and Warburton.[|[35]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Wilsons Promontory Cathedral fire had burnt 24,150 ha (59,700 acres) and was still burning.[|[36]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The French Island fire slowly burnt in uninhabited grass and scrub bushland on the northeast end of the island.[|[37]] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Tuesday, 3 March 2009 <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Extreme bushfire conditions predicted for Monday night and early Tuesday morning, involving very strong northerlies, with a change forecast to arrive by Tuesday morning. Three million [|SMS] messages warning of extreme fire danger conditions were sent by the mobile phone companies, on behalf of [|Victoria Police], to Victorians and Tasmanians with mobile phones as a technology trial.[|[38]]\ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wednesday, 4 March <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cooler conditions and rain from 4–6 March enabled firefighters to control and contain several fires, with the Kilmore East – Murrindindi complex south fire being completely contained. Predictions for favourable weather signalled the easing of the threat to settlements from the major fires that had been burning since 7 February. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mid-March <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Favourable conditions aided containment efforts and extinguished many of the fires.