Bringing Hot Spots program to the Mid Coast
Together with the RFS and Nature Conservation Council, MC2T brought fire ecology educational and planning workshops to two communities across the mid coast, with 15 more to come!
Collaborations - LP039-R003
The issue
Following the 2019 bushfire season, those communities who were spared the immediate devastation were left with the pending knowledge and stress that their bushfire risk was only going to increase before the next season. In a region where close to 60% of vegetation was burnt over the four-month period in 2019-20, the risks and potential loss that could be inflicted by another damaging bushfire season is all too real, even for those who were spared.
The solution
Thanks to an IRCCC grant, Mid Coast 2 Tops Landcare partnered with the RFS and the NSW Nature Conservation Council to bring an established, and highly demanding program to those communities identified most at risk, starting with Topi Topi, on the shores and hills of Myall Lake. Next up will be the community of the Bulga Plateau, just behind hard hit Elands and Bobin.
The Hot Spots program educates landholders on their responsibilities in bushfire mitigation and is taught from a biodiversity conservation perspective. The RFS present the landholders with the advice and contacts required to legally conduct their own risk mitigation, while the Nature Conservation Council explains the fire regime requirements of local vegetation. This advice and information is built into fire management plans produced for each property on the day.
The impact
Following the high demand for these workshops, but given the limited availability of the Hot Spots team, Mid Coast 2 Tops Landcare, in partnership with the RFS and Hunter Local Land Services, successfully applied for a grant under the BCRRF funding from Resilience NSW. This project will develop a localised version of the Hot Spots program to be delivered to 15 more identified communities throughout our region over the next 2 years.
Key facts
- The Mid Coast was one of the first and hardest-hit regions of NSW during the bushfire season of 2019.
- Communities spared in 2019 exist in a heightened state of stress knowing that their bushfire risk remained.
- MC2T, in partnership with RFS and NCC, brought the Hot Spots program to 2 identified high-risk communities.
- With demand from the wider community, MC2T in partnership with HLLS and RFS, and supported by NCC, will develop a localised version of this program and deliver it to 15 more communities throughout the region.