Michelle McKemey

Fire has had a profound impact on Australia’s landscapes and biodiversity since the late Tertiary. Indigenous (Aboriginal) people have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years and fire is an integral part of their culture and cosmology. In 2015, an Indigenous cultural burn was undertaken by Banbai rangers at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area, New England Tablelands, NSW. We compared the impact of this burn on the composition, cover, abundance, and species richness of dry sclerophyll vegetation and fuel hazard, with a hazard reduction burn at nearby Warra National Park, using a Before-After-Control-Impact experimental design. Our study found that the low-severity cultural burn and moderate-severity hazard reduction burn reduced fuel loads but did not have a significant impact on the composition of the vegetation overall or the herb layer. The hazard reduction burn had a significant impact on shrub and juvenile tree (woody species) cover, while the abundance of woody species was significantly affected by both fires, with a mass germination of ‘seeder’ species, particularly after the cultural burn. The long unburnt fire regime at Wattleridge may have made the vegetation more responsive to fire than the more frequently burnt vegetation at Warra, through accumulation of seed in the seed bank, so that the patchy cultural burn had a greater impact on woody species abundance. In terms of ecological and bushfire management outcomes, this study provides evidence to support claims that Indigenous cultural burning decreases fuel loads, stimulates regeneration of shrubs and trees, and manages at a local, place-based scale. We recommend cultural burning as a key management tool across Indigenous Protected Areas and other land tenures, with its implementation monitored and adaptively managed through two-way science, to foster fire regimes that are both culturally and ecologically beneficial. This is a vital element of our resilience in the Pyrocene and a significant step toward decolonizing science and land management.

In response to Lamont’s critique, we highlight the nuances of modelling and observing population dynamics, the benefits of cross-cultural research and ongoing challenges for fire management. We reinforce our conclusion that cultural fire management supported by science provides the most adaptive approach to support the recovery of the Backwater grevillea.

Summary: Contemporary Indigenous cultural fire management facilitates opportunities for Indigenous peoples to connect to and manage their Country, as well as providing scope for research. Right‐way science is defined as collaborative process of bringing Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge and methods together to create ethical, productive and mutually beneficial research. Five key requirements of right‐way science emerge from the literature, including: building relationships and trust; formal research approval processes; co‐development of research; acknowledging challenges; and ethical, productive and mutually beneficial research. This article explores the question: how can right‐way science enhance Indigenous cultural fire management? By reflecting on research collaborations between Western scientists and Indigenous ranger groups of New South Wales (Banbai) and the Northern Territory (Yugul Mangi), this paper, firstly, describes the methods we used to explore right‐way science around cultural fire management. Secondly, it synthesises key findings of the research projects, including how we addressed the five key requirements of right‐way science elicited from the literature. Thirdly, we provide insight on how right‐way science can be applied more broadly to enhance Indigenous cultural fire management. We found that increasing opportunities for Indigenous peoples to care for their Country, supported by right‐way science, places them in a unique position to contribute to solving some of the ongoing challenges and research questions associated with fire management. Western scientists have an important role to play, as supporters and followers of Indigenous research partners, and advocates of right‐way science.

Indigenous self-determination, land rights and caring for Country programs are enabling Indigenous peoples across the world to re-establish customary roles in biodiversity conservation and cultural fire management. In Australia, Indigenous-controlled lands form the majority of the protected area estate, harbour almost 60% of listed threatened species and maintain high levels of biodiversity. This study used cross-cultural (Indigenous and Western academic) methods to monitor the impact of Indigenous cultural burning v. wildfire on the threatened plant, Backwater grevillea (Grevillea scortechinii subsp. sarmentosa). Cultural burning resulted in lower mature grevillea mortality and less impact on reproductive output than wildfire. Both fires stimulated a mass germination but the cultural burn preserved a multi-aged population while the wildfire killed 99.6% of mature shrubs. Comparison of fuel load changes resulting from cultural burning, hazard reduction burning and wildfire indicated that fuel loads were reduced by all fire treatments, although the cultural burn was less severe than other fires. Our case study of the Backwater grevillea and its Banbai custodians provides an example where Indigenous rangers have adopted a plant into their cultural management framework. They are conserving this threatened species using culturally driven, holistic management that is locally focused and supported by cross-cultural knowledge.

Indigenous knowledge emphasises the importance of cultural connections between humans and the biophysical world. In the face of threats to the maintenance and transfer of Indigenous knowledge, novel approaches such as seasonal calendars are emerging as tools to share knowledge and guide management of natural and cultural resources. The renewal of Indigenous cultural fire management in southeast Australia provided an opportunity to explore whether the co‐production of a fire and seasons calendar, using Western and Indigenous knowledges, can support cultural fire management. We present a case study of cross‐cultural collaboration between scientists and the Banbai Aboriginal rangers at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area, New South Wales. We reviewed literature from various disciplines (archaeological, ethnohistorical, Indigenous and ecological) and undertook participatory action research and interviews to collate relevant information. This was synthesised in Winba = Fire, the Banbai Fire and Seasons Calendar, which is used by the Banbai rangers to guide cultural burning, share cross‐cultural knowledge and increase awareness of Indigenous cultural fire management. The process of co‐producing knowledge, revitalising culture, caring for Country, working together and supporting self‐determination is relevant for many Indigenous communities around the world.

Indigenous cultural fire management is being recognised and revived across Australia, primarily in the centre and across the north. To explore the benefits of contemporary cultural fire management in southeast Australia and barriers to its revival, we undertook a systematic analysis of the literature. Seventy documented applications of cultural fire management projects were found with the potential for significant upscaling. Over the last decade, eight policies related to Indigenous fire management have been developed by state and territory governments in southeast Australia, with varying levels of implementation. Seventy-eight benefits and 22 barriers were identified in relation to cultural fire management. In the cases where cultural fire management has been successfully reinstated as an ongoing practice, Indigenous leadership, extraordinary relationships, strong agreements and transformational change were identified as drivers of success. For cultural fire management to grow, more funding, policy implementation, long-term commitment, Indigenous control and decision making, mentoring, training and research are required. Several areas of research could facilitate the expansion of cultural fire management and be applied in similar contexts globally, including Africa and the Americas. While Indigenous voices are increasingly represented in the literature, it is imperative that mutually beneficial and respectful partnerships are developed in the cross-cultural interface of landscape fire management.

Indigenous fire management is experiencing a resurgence worldwide. Northern Australia is the world leader in Indigenous savanna burning, delivering social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits. In 2016, a greenhouse gas abatement fire program commenced in the savannas of south-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, managed by the Indigenous Yugul Mangi rangers. We undertook participatory action research and semi-structured interviews with rangers and Elders during 2016 and 2019 to investigate Indigenous knowledge and obtain local feedback about fire management. Results indicated that Indigenous rangers effectively use cross-cultural science (including local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge alongside western science) to manage fire. Fire management is a key driver in the production of bush tucker (wild food) resources and impacts other cultural and ecological values. A need for increased education and awareness about Indigenous burning was consistently emphasized. To address this, the project participants developed the Yugul Mangi Faiya En Sisen Kelenda (Yugul Mangi Fire and Seasons Calendar) that drew on Indigenous knowledge of seasonal biocultural indicators to guide the rangers’ fire management planning. The calendar has potential for application in fire management planning, intergenerational transfer of Indigenous knowledge and locally driven adaptive fire management.