Gippsland

Characteristics

Cooler annual temperature
Mix of temperate rainforest, alpine and farming
Large uninterrupted forest and parks with remote accessibility
Aging coastal populations
Small communities near large continuous forests
Small isolated populations of vulnerable flora and fauna species

Fuel management

Permanent fuel breaks that are also used for forest access
Fuel management corridors through vast tracts of public land to break up large fires
Intense fuel treatment around communities and critical infrastructure

Bushfire risk

The estimated risk curve tells a story about how bushfires, recovering fuels after bushfires and our fuel management activities, affect the changing levels of bushfire risk across the region over time.

Within the Gippsland region in 2019–20, residual risk is was projected at around 41%.

Estimated risk fell sharply following major bushfires in the early 1980s. As fuels slowly re-accumulated, estimated risk increased.

Estimated risk fell again in 2003 and 2006/07 following the significant bushfires in the Alpine areas. Planned burning kept estimated risk down to historically low levels in the years following these bushfires, but risk has been increasing in recent years as fuels re-accumulate in bushfire-affected areas. Bushfire risk has fallen sharply as a result of the 2019-20 bushfires.

Implementation of the risk-based fuel management strategy on public land is projected to keep estimated bushfire risk to 41% through to 2023 if the entire Joint Fuel Management Program is implemented and there is little bushfire activity but would increase to 48% without any fuel management or bushfires.

Many communities in the Gippsland region are vulnerable to major bushfires due to their close proximity to large, continuous areas of vegetated public land.

Environmental metrics

Understanding the impact of fire on ecosystems requires first being able to define and measure ecosystem resilience. Tolerable Fire Interval and Vegetation Growth Stage Structure are used as indicators of ecosystem resilience at a landscape level. These allow us to better understand ecosystem resilience and the impacts of fire.

Current and historic Tolerable Fire Interval and Vegetation Growth Stage Structures for the Gippsland region are available in the Fuel Management Report.

Strategic bushfire management planning

Strategic bushfire management planning is about bringing together land and fire managers, communities and stakeholders to develop a common understanding of bushfire risk and determine strategies and actions to reduce that risk.

This planning is informed by world-leading, bushfire behaviour modelling and research into community values that can be affected by bushfires. It brings together multiple perspectives to set agreed objectives for regional bushfire management.

The key output of strategic planning is six new Bushfire Management Strategies aligned to each of the Victorian Government Regions:

Download the Gippsland Bushfire Management Strategy (PDF 9.9MB)

Download the Gippsland Bushfire Management Strategy (Word Accessible 15MB)

The Strategic bushfire management planning process is jointly delivered by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic), Country Fire Authority (CFA), Emergency Management Victoria (EMV), and local government in consultation with communities. For more information about the Strategic Bushfire Management Planning process, see the Strategic Bushfire Management Planning page.

Further resources

Posters

Fact Sheets