Bushfire Recovery Program

Bushfires are an annual occurrence in Australia and many ecosystems have come to rely on these occurrences for their continued health. Over the last few decades, fire extent, frequency, and intensity have increased due to warming global temperatures, as well as reduced rainfall and increased interannually variance in weather conditions. However, the intensity of the 2019 – 2020 bushfires saw ecosystems burn that rarely see fire, such as rainforests. The majority of Australia’s bushfires in the southern and eastern parts of the country occur during the summer season when conditions are drier. In 2019, the Forest Fire Danger Index was the highest on record over an extensive area of Australia during spring prior to the traditional summer fire season.

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Between June 2019 and February 2020, Australia experienced an unprecedentedly prolonged, extensive and severe season of bushfires. More than 15,000 fires occurred across all states, resulting in a combined total impact area of up to 19 million hectares burnt, of which 12 million hectares contained primary forest and woodland. The large spatial scale of Australia’s bushfires, and frequent reburning of areas have had major impacts on high conservation value areas and biodiversity. It is estimated that more than one billion animals were lost during the Black Summer fires, and 810 priority species and ecological communities are in need of urgent management intervention to prevent species loss.

The FNPW Bushfire Recovery Program is strategic and articulates a framework within which communities, non-government organisation, and government protected area agencies can rebuild and restore their lost natural capital. The bushfire recovery program is intended to provide the frame upon which communities and organisations can start rebuilding their environment. It is not intended to provide continuous long-term support, but to provide support for the Emergency Response and Initial Recovery stages after a bushfire, which will allow the communities to meet the demands of Long-term Recovery.

The Bushfire Recovery Program structure covers four main areas:

This includes our Seedbank Project, the Bushfire Recovery Nurseries, and the Restoration Project.

Restore – lost habitat by replanting native vegetation, and protecting natural regeneration.

Rebuild – rebuild or replace lost nursery assets.

Grow – a healthy and natural environment to enhance ecosystems and services.

Support – local communities to become more resilient.

To ensure the program is authentic in its approach, the four values of FNPW were used as a ‘yard stick’. By coupling the FNPW strategic values with the intervention terms, the following alignments were identified.

Genuine – To work with bushfire impacted communities from a point of genuine empathy and understanding.

Nimble – Have a nimble approach to meeting the unique needs of each community as they enter the recovery cycle.

Clever – Be clever on how we approached bushfire recovery and welcome new and innovative ideas.

Confident – Instill confidence in the communities, governments, and our donors that FNPW is committed to bushfire recovery for the long term.