After a few false starts, we got there! Ecological burning in a changing climate at Mt Vandyke

As part of the unfolding grassland restoration project at NGT’s Mt Vandyke Restoration Reserve, a 6 hectare biomass reduction burn on the hillslopes has been on the cards for some time. The aim of this second burn (which is shown in the map below) was to enable effective post-burn weed control prior to direct-seeding and planting of native grasses.

Initially, the burn was planned for Friday the 15th of November 2024. However, this was cancelled due to considerable late spring rain falling before the onset of the fire season, including on the planned burn-day itself. So our first attempt hit a snag!

So, we pivoted, and a second attempt was scheduled for Saturday the 12th of April 2025. Whilst conditions were perfect on the day, high-fire danger was forecast for the following weekend, hence the burn was cancelled out of an abundance of caution to protect the surrounding forest.

Over following weeks we rescheduled again, and a third attempt was planned for Saturday the 17th of May 2025. Despite reasonable conditions and extensive preparation, the grass failed to ignite after some cold and damp conditions in the days prior, leading us to cancel the burn once more.

These first three planned burns were organised by the CFA and DEECA/FFM, and we are very grateful for their support – and persistence!

After our third false start, fire restrictions were lifted on the 19th May (making burns a little less complex), and a fresh opportunity to burn presented itself a few days later on Thursday the 22nd May 2025. Conditions were frosty, yet favourable, and – much to everyone’s relief – this fourth and final burn attempt was successful!

This 6 month long story of persistence highlights the potential difficulty and complexity of ecological burning, particularly with extended fire seasons of up to 6 months now becoming the norm. In future, we hope to be better set up and resourced to conduct the burns ourselves outside of the declared fire season.

We would like to acknowledge the following people who made the burn possible, because it really does take a lot of teamwork, expertise and planning; Percy and Melissa Free from Lyons CFA, local farmers Tim O’Toole, Amanda MacDonald and Cameron Cutler, Tanya Nagorcka of the CFA, Nicola Aylward of DEECA/Forest Fire Management, Rosemary Wilson and Andrew Rethus from the NGT field-crew and the many brigades of the District 4 fire region. We’d also like to thank Aaron Johnson from South West Drone Ag, who went out of his way to help us prepare the site for the burn.

We look forward to undertaking future burns on Mt Vandyke, and sharing with you what we learn along the way about its role in aiding grassland restoration efforts.

The ongoing habitat restoration work at Mount Vandyke is currently being made possible thanks to a number of NGT’s supporters, including Purryburry Trust, Leith Hope Memorial Foundation, Pixel Seed Fund, NGT monthly donors and other individuals who wish to remain anonymous. The project is also receiving significant public co-investment in the form of a grant from the Victorian State Government, via the Nature Fund program.