Prescribed burning is defined as the controlled application of fire under specific environmental conditions to a predetermined area and at the time, intensity and rate of spread required to attain planned resource management objectives.
Research in this area has included four main elements:

• basic understanding of fire ecology and vegetation (fuels) using specific area studies
• fire behaviour research that examines how fuels are consumed and the characteristics of the combustion process
• the impact of prescribed burning on subsequent wildfire suppression and asset protection
  
• the development of tools and knowledge that can help to understand fire propagation and the impacts of climate change on risk.

Proposed Seminars/Forums, Workshops and Specialist Courses

1. Workshops / Forums

On location at long-term field sites on private land. Participants, including local land and fire managers and residents, will learn about research into high country fuels and ecosystems and how bushfire might be better managed in high country landscapes.

1.2 Prescribed Burning Summit – TBA
The purpose of this summit is to bring together a range of researchers and policy makers with an interest in the role of prescribed fire in landscape management. Participants can anticipate developing a better understanding of the various research approaches on prescribed burning.

1.3 Briefing for Departmental Heads - TBA
An update by researchers and policy specialists supported by a literature synthesis and related scientific publications.

Government agencies in Australia and New Zealand spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on the management of bushfires. This briefing will provide an update for Departmental Heads and senior decisionmakers on the implications of Bushfire CRC research on bushfire management. The briefing is designed to assist CEOs / Chief Officers to better understand the parameters and the uncertainties associated with relevant risk models. It will also provide insights into some of the complexities associated with the use of prescribed fire.

1.4 Fire Weather - September 2009
This half-day pre-conference workshop at the Bushfire CRC Annual Conference will bring participants upto-date with the findings of recent research into fire weather. Research outcomes focussing on a number of high hazard episodes, as well as ‘mean’ weather will be discussed, with a view to assisting fire and land management personnel in their strategic planning.

1.5 Fuel Systems - September 2009
This half-day pre-conference workshop at the Bushfire CRC Annual Conference will hear from a range of researchers investigating bushfire fuel in a variety of landscapes.
Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the links between fire and land management and the management of critically important resources such as water and forests.

1.6 Risk Management Techniques for Plantation forests – TBA
Fire behaviour in eucalypt plantations exhibits some very different and, to date, imperfectly understood characteristics. This workshop will give participants the opportunity to learn about a range of Bushfire CRC research pertinent to plantation management. Topics will include prescribed burning in relation to eucalypt plantations and the use of aircraft in plantation fires.

1.7 Workshop for Policy and Planning Officers – TBA
This workshop will provide an update for policy and planning officers on the implications of research outcomes on bushfire management. The workshop is designed to assist practitioners to better understand the current risk models and thereby be in a better position to use them in their own situations. There will be the opportunity for practitioners to apply the new models to local scenarios and to discuss the implications for changes in practice.

1.8 Fire Management Business Model – TBA
Participants will learn how the Fire Management Business Model will assist them to better prepare for climate related changes to fire regimes. Participants will gain a better understanding of how changes in one aspect of bushfire management can affect other aspects of land and fire management.

1.9 Climate Change and its Impact on Bushfire Management - TBA
One of the more difficult issues facing those involved in the management of bushfires is assessing the likely impact of climate change on the bushfire threat. In this workshop participants will hear from researchers involved in the fields of fire behaviour, prescribed burning, aerial suppression techniques and fuel regimes. The implications for climate change on land and fire management will also be explored.

2. Specialist Courses

2.1 Fire Behaviour/Fire Weather/Fuel Systems
Southern Australia; Northern Australia Dates TBA

These courses are targeted at regional fire planning officers and related personnel with an interest in developing an improved understanding of the implications of research outcomes in fire behaviour, fire weather and fuel systems, particularly in a changing climate. Participants will learn about bushfire management models of fire suppression and management which combines seasonal and geographic data, fire behaviour science and capability information and how they can use this information to inform both
operational and strategic decision making.

2.2 Fire Behaviour / Fire Weather / Fuel Systems –Building Trainer ExpertiseSouthern Australia; Northern Australia Dates TBA

In these two three day courses participants will review their current training strategies in relation to the research content provided in SC1–ASPB ’Fire behaviour/fire weather/fuel systems‘ and plan and develop new training delivery approaches. Some time will be spent on reviewing the latest approaches to adult learning and training and on participants gaining experience in micro-teaching and/or developing curricula in selected research content.

3. Fire Notes

24 Fire Notes have been published. A further 22 Fire Notes
are in preparation, for completion over the next 18 months.

4. Postgraduate Theses

Six Doctoral theses have been completed, and another twelve and one Masters level postgraduate studies are underway. A list of students and thesis topics is located on the BCRC site.

5. Specific Products

• Long-term research sites have been established and documented across most sites in Australia. Specific information about these sites is currently available from the Bushfire CRC website. It is intended that MOUs will be prepared and signed with each relevant managing agency concerning the future management and monitoring of each site.
• A field guide for Burning Under Young Eucalypt Plantations is in preparation with a publication scheduled for April 2009.
• A book synthesizing all the research carried out as part of Program B is in its final preparation and will be published in 2009.