Protagoras:
In your previous post that I was referring to, you quoted from a WAFA submission dated October 2003. Because of my many years of dealing with WAFA, my instinct is to assume that they have quoted the CALM annual reports out of context. For example, spring burning is cheaper to undertake than autumn burning but it is environmentally more damaging, so, without knowing the context of the quotes from CALM's reports, it's hard to know exactly what message CALM was trying to get across (although the WAFA modus operandi was to always bag CALM no matter what they said).

Your long extract from the CALM 2001-2 annual report highlights my concerns about the impact of political and public pressure on both CALM's preparedness to burn and on the lack of funding available to CALM at that time (funding was significantly increased in the following years).

Yes, smoke is damaging to health but wildfire is even more damaging: it kills, as the 210 dead from the Victorian bushfires of last month show.

The bottom line is that, while DEC can and should do a better job of prescribed burning with greater attention paid to protecting environmental values, politicians need to fund DEC better so they can do this job properly. As well, people like you and I need to publicly support DEC and be willing to put up with smoke a few times a year in exchange for a forest environment that is much more fire safe.

I live near the Murrindindi area that was burnt and I am seeking some clarification....

Mark Poynter raises his concerns of forest management being withdrawn from forests and that this poses a problem for fire management.

However, the Murrindindi fire. that started at the old sawmill, progressed into the adjoining state forest which has been extensively logged for many years. It has further logging planned. There are no national parks near the old sawmill, but only a small strip of a camping reserve following the Murrindindi River. Driving through the area, much of the logged area has been severely burnt. I am under the impression that the forestry industry would view the state forests of Murrindindi as being well managed. So, why is there so much discussion of 'locking up forests', removing foresters from the forest and angst at greenies when the forests surrounding the old sawmill have been heavily logged for decades and had roads extensively built through them? Looking at the fire maps, by the time the fire front began burning into the Yarra Ranges National Park, it had since burnt through Marysville and other extensively logged areas surrounding the town up on Paradise Plains and Taggerty River area. Please, I am no fire expert, so any clarification would be welcome??