A bushfire expert has called for more fuel-reduction burns in non-ash forests in water catchment areas, after research revealed they have less impact on the quality and quantity of water stocks than previously thought.

Mark Adams, Dean of the University of Sydney Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, says studies following the Black Saturday fires in Victoria show such forests regenerate faster, can sustain burning more frequently and are more amenable to management.

Water catchment areas in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, forests outside Melbourne, the Adelaide Hills and regions outside Canberra could all benefit from more burns, he says.

The incidence of large bushfires has nearly tripled in the past decade following a long drought from the mid-1990s, Professor Adams told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“By the early 2000s we had the worst possible conditions for bushfires.” 

He says Victoria has improved its fire-prevention and management practices, but other areas of Australia have lagged.

Sydney University has begun follow-up research, which will take three years, with support from ACT Electricity and Water.

Catchment authorities have been “slow and cautious” to act on bushfire mitigation because “there are plenty of people who are ideologically opposed to fuel-reduction burns” and catchments have been “sacrosanct”, Professor Adams says.

The Sydney Catchment Authority is considering the research, and Professor Adams believes other authorities are following suit.

He says fire risk issues have not been given sufficiently high prominence by the authorities.