30 to 40 percent of grass tree burning completed

The City undertook grass tree burning at Shenton Bushland on Tuesday the 22 August and Monday the 11 September 2017. On these dates approximately 30-40% of grass trees were burnt across an area of approximately one hectare. The burnt area is currently being monitored to assess weed growth and native flora regeneration.

The grass trees were burnt to reduce fine fuel loads within the reserve. Shenton Bushland has a high proportion of grass trees that have long dead skirts which are a source of fire fuels. Fine fuels consist of grasses and small twigs which are less than 6 mm in diameter. These fine fuels contribute to the intensity and spread of fire in the event of an unplanned fire and this work will assist the City to help protect property by reducing the build-up of flammable fuel loads.

This work aims to supplement the manual fuel load reduction work that has been undertaken in the reserve in the past few years along with the annual grass weed spraying program that controls annual and perennial grass weeds which are also a source of fine fuel loads. The burnt area is currently being monitored to assess weed growth and native flora regeneration.