Next steps for understanding fire impacts

The Expert Panel is working as quickly as it can, in collaboration with experts and state and territory governments, to identify species that may need urgent management intervention. The provisional list is not complete, but is an important step in understanding and responding to the bushfires.

The provisional list does not include plants at this stage. A plant assessment is underway but requires more time because of the large number of species being assessed. Listed threatened plants will be assessed first. Likewise, the impacts of fire on most invertebrate groups have not yet been considered, but such analysis is proposed.

The animal species included are initial priorities - many others will also need management intervention to support recovery. Fires are continuing to burn which may cause other species to become priorities for emergency intervention. This assessment will need to be updated as data for new fires become available.

The pattern and intensity of fire will vary within the fire grounds. The fires will not have impacted all areas within the mapped extent equally. Some areas will have burnt at very high intensity whilst other areas may not have burnt at all. Future analyses will incorporate information about fire severity and impacts as it becomes available.

Our understanding of the fire impacts on animal species will improve after information from on-ground surveys is gathered (once the burnt areas are safe to enter). On-ground surveys may tell us that the fire impacts have been more severe, or less severe, than previously thought.  

Potential fire impacts for some species, particularly those with small or poorly documented distributions like freshwater crayfish, are estimates only. The distributions of many freshwater fish had already changed before the 2019-20 wildfires due to drought, so ash and sediment in waterways may impact a larger proportion of their populations that this analysis indicates. These species require on ground surveys to confirm the impacts, and have been included as priorities for emergency intervention as a precaution.

Information on other natural assets (including threatened ecological communities, heritage places and Ramsar wetlands) potentially impacted by the 2019-20 wildfires will be published in the future.

WHAT ACTIONS ARE NEEDED FOR HIGH PRIORITY SPECIES?

Two priority actions should be carried out for all high priority species: 1) Rapid on-ground surveys to establish extent of population loss and provide a baseline for ongoing monitoring. 2) Protecting unburnt areas within or adjacent to recently burnt ground that provide refuge, as well as unburnt areas that are not adjacent to burnt areas, especially from extensive, intense fire.

Other interventions required for each species are best informed by species experts, and a detailed suite of actions at local and regional scales should be developed – in many cases, planning and action by state agencies and other land managers is already underway.

However, the trait information collated for each species provides indications of the type of actions likely to be required for any species. For example, if a species is highly susceptible to introduced predators in the post-fire period, then some form of predator control or exclusion is indicated. If a species has a specialised diet, then supplementary feeding may be considered.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Bushfire recovery package for wildlife and their habitat: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/bushfire-recovery

Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database: https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl

GIS data on Species of National Environmental Significance: https://www.environment.gov.au/science/erin/databases-maps/snes

Common name	Scientific name	EPBC Act listed status	States & Territories

Birds (13 species)