Planned burns continue in central and western Queensland national parks

Issued: 30 May 2019

As temperatures drop, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) is rising to the challenge of leading planned burns across central and western Queensland.

QPWS Acting Regional Director Claire Grant said the cooler weather is providing ideal conditions for QPWS to carry out its regional planned burning program across its protected area estate.

“In 2018, even with drought conditions, we were able to carry out burns across approximately 56,500 hectares of the central Queensland park estate, with much more planned for 2019,” Ms Grant said.

“This year already, QPWS has undertaken planned burns on over 200,000 hectares of estate.

“This burn program will ramp up during the cooler months to help protect residential areas and visitor sites, and to improve conservation outcomes by managing ecosystem health.

“In 2019, over $500,000 has been allocated to implement broad scale aerial burns, hazard reduction burns and strategic firebreaks on parks and forests across the central region.”

“These burns are a result of careful planning. We proactively manage risks and ecosystems from the desert to the coast.”

Ms Grant said QPWS works closely with key stakeholders prior to, during and after all planned burns.

“We’re grateful for our supportive partnerships with Traditional Owners, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, local government, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, and our park neighbours,” she said.

“We do our best to minimise smoke drift and road closures, but can’t make guarantees – so we really appreciate locals understanding and patience at these times, and in supporting QPWS’s hazard reduction burning.”

As well as sending smoke advices to local media, QPWS will post park alerts about upcoming burns.