A 1,000-year ecological reconstruction indicates Australia’s wildfire crisis is rooted in the colonial disruption of Indigenous fire management, rather than solely climate change, according to a study in Nature. For over 800 years before British colonization in 1788, Indigenous Gunaikurnai people maintained stable eucalypt woodlands using regular, low-temperature burning.
Researchers analyzing sediment cores found tree cover averaged around 10% under Indigenous stewardship, with minimal high-temperature fires or soil erosion. Following colonization in the 1840s, the forced cessation of this practice led to a buildup of woody fuels. By the 1970s, eucalypt tree cover increased to 34%, transforming woodlands into dense, flammable forests. This shift corresponded with a doubling or tripling of high-temperature charcoal, indicating a transition to destructive crown fires and exposed topsoil.
These changes occurred significantly before modern climate warming, suggesting that fuel accumulation under colonial forestry practices had already increased the region’s susceptibility to severe fires.
Source: Mongabay