Around here we have a problem. Too many tree changers. They like trees, lots of them, & like others in places that have burnt, they will suffer the consequences sooner or later.

The only way to maintain forest grazing here is to burn. 2 years grazing, a year locked up to establish enough grass to carry a warm fire, then a burn in the 4Th year to clear 4 years development of saplings & other woody weeds that have grown before they become fully established.

Our tree changers write letters & phone owners, complaining about the smoke, but it is they who moved into an established grazing area, not the reverse. If they wanted to live in the bush they should have moved there.

My neighbors 10,000 acre paddock is a perfect example of lost productivity. We used to train our eventers there 25 years ago. Riding at a moderate gallop, jumping fallen timber, & other obstacles was great training. Today it is so full of garbage undergrowth that the brambles would tear your horse & you apart even at little above walking pace. He can carry less than a quarter of the stock he could back then.

Why, he is getting old, over 70, & is sick of complaining neighbors if he burns. He can no longer be bothered with the ratbagery that has overtaken us today.

His kids have seen the writing on the wall, & moved to city employment. He is letting it wind down into useless as he does so himself. Fortunately I have half a kilometer of lightly timbered country between us, so should be safe when inevitably his place goes up in flames.

To Author - Vic - you wrote -

The Bushfires Royal Commission totally failed to address the absence of sustainable land management which led to Black Summer. It didn't even properly fulfil its requirement to consider the outcomes of previous Inquiries, stopping short at the 2004 COAG Report by two academics and a fire chief. COAG effectively swept under the carpet A Nation Charred, the report of the House of Reps Inquiry into the 2003 disasters, which heard from experienced land and fire managers across Australia.

Response - I totally agree.

So where do we go from here - Governments don't listen or acknowledge
"failed sustainable land management - which led to the Black Summer", and lives lost.

In essence - Government know the "actual errors" but won't acknowledge.

So, if Governments won't address these issues, its now time for citizens to rise up.

I note with interest - there have been only 6 people = before me, responding to your great article.

When we should all be outraged.

But - of course - we have the "Greenies" around us, that don't wish to acknowledge the absence of - sustainable land management.

Vic -

I guess it comes down to "there is a spine looking for a backbone" - within Government.

Little,
Yep ! We need to find a way to stock the authorities with common sense ! A National Service would do that !