READ MORE:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A traditional burning program has started on the Far South Coast following weeks of preparation, and a wait for ideal weather conditions.
Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Glenn Willcox said the cultural burning program, which will run during July and August, "should reduce the bushfire risk for neighbouring properties" ahead of the upcoming bushfire season.
"The continuing dry conditions combined with heavy fuel loads have delayed our start to the burning program, which aims to alter and revive the forest's understory by replacing the dense bracken fern thicket with more grassy plants," Mr Willcox said.
As well as bringing the land alive again with a healthier forest for native plants and animals, the cultural burning regime will also reduce fuel loads, making the bush more resistant to damaging wild fires, he said.
The team started the program near Tura Beach on Wednesday.
"Our cultural burning team has put in control lines around several small patches in the forest on Aboriginal land to the west of houses along High Crescent and south of the Sananda Park retirement village," Mr Willcox said.
"We have also prepared some more planned burn sites in the forest to the west of Sapphire Coast Drive."