The Department has provided to the Noosa Electorate Office the following information and points of relevance with regard to planned burns in National Parks. Updates, notifications and advice will be provided as it becomes available at https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/park-alerts/:

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) has a planned burn target of 5% across the protected area estate for bushfire mitigation, risk reduction for urban interface areas and for achieving conservation outcomes.

• QPWS places greatest emphasis on fire safety, particularly where urban and rural communities adjoin the State’s parks and forests.
• Cross-agency coordination of fire hazard reduction through preventative activities, such as prescribed burning, occurs at many levels including state, district and local levels, in collaboration with Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) and other key stakeholders.
• QPWS is an active member of the QFES led Area Fire Management Groups which discuss planned hazard reduction activities within local areas so community stakeholders can provide their input into the management of fire risk.
• Fire plays an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and reducing the risk of bushfire. The use of planned burning is one of many methods of reducing fuel loads and associated hazards on QPWS managed areas. An example of another method is mechanical, which includes slashing, mowing, brush cutting and triturating.
• To guide the use of fire on protected areas, QPWS has developed comprehensive park level fire strategies and Planned Burn Guidelines based on bioregional fire vegetation groups. These strategies and guidelines drive our annual fire programs at a local level.
• Fire Management Zoning forms an important part of park level fire strategies for the protection of life, property and environment through an appropriate spatial and temporal application of fire regimes.
• Each year planned burn programs are developed across QPWS managed areas with protection zones being prioritised.
• The planned burn program for Cooloola in 2019 will not be finalised until the end of February. Updates, notifications and advice will be provided as it becomes available at https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/park-alerts/
• Burns not completed due to unsuitable weather conditions are rolled over to subsequent years.
• The safety of residents and park visitors, including the potential effects of smoke, are primary factors in assessing whether a scheduled planned burn is viable.
• QPWS takes every opportunity to conduct planned burns whenever weather conditions are suitable, with burning operations generally being carried out between January and August each year.
• Many variables influence our planned burning schedules (with reference to the Noosa/ Sunshine Coast area particularly) including:
o High urban interface including residential estates, schools, shopping centres, aged care facilities (i.e. burning protection zones, take priority over mitigation zones and conservation zones).
o Reduced opportunities to implement burns for example specific wind direction required to safely execute burns including minimising the impacts on major transport corridors and impacts of smoke on urban/residential, aged care facilities, shopping, school precincts and airports etc.
o A high level of planning required to manage stakeholders needs, for example Main Roads and traffic control, impacts on tourism, closure of high recreation use parks, media notifications, Park Alerts and community notifications.