Planning the use of fire to restore grasslands
Burns are an important part of managing grassy vegetation. Fire helps to promote fresh growth, provides space for many sensitive plant and animal species to thrive and makes weed control easier.
We work with our partners Forest Fire Management Victoria, Parks Victoria, Melbourne Water, Traditional Owners and scientists at the Arthur Rylah Institute to ensure burns are carried out safely, sensitively and effectively across the MSA Program area.
Applying fire in a carefully planned and controlled way reduces the risk of bushfire but also supports regeneration and ecological resilience. In 2024-2025, a huge team effort saw eight ecological burns delivered across 660 hectares of MSA Program area.
This included burns in the Western Grassland Reserve and Kororoit Creek Regional Park, as well as MSA conservation areas including Conservation Area 2 (Kororoit Creek North Grassland) and Conservation Area 10 (Truganina Cemetery Grassland).
At the start of the 2024-2025 burns season, DEECA’s Forest Fire Operations Division formed a Biodiversity Mitigations Working Group to help protect nature and support planning, including Traditional Owners and representatives from Parks Victoria, the MSA Program and Arthur Rylah Institute. The group hosted a one-day workshop in February 2024 to consider implications of the ecological burn program on threatened species and communities.
Cultural burning is a way for Traditional Owners to connect with Country and enables the learning and teaching of practices that are thousands of years old. Traditional Owners from Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation are key partners in burns planning and delivery.
As well as supporting burns led by Forest Fire Management Victoria, Wurundjeri’s Narrap team and Wadawurrung’s Wiyn Mirrup team have been involved in planning and leading burns for cultural and ecological purposes.
Forest Fire Operations is scaling up team planning, fuel break, and burn delivery resourcing as the MSA Program secures more land for conservation areas and reserves. To search planned burns locations, or subscribe to information about planned burns, visit Planned burning in Victoria.
Image credit: Bec Jack/DEECA