Fire workshops boost landholder confidence and on-ground action!
This year, our project partners shared inspiring stories of landholders confidently using skills and networks through Healthy Land & Water’s Queensland Fire and Biodiversity workshops. These stories have been years in the making, with long-term stewardship being the key focus of both the workshops and the outcomes they’ve enabled.
Read these landholder stories.
While anyone can attend a workshop, it is the stories of people who put their learnings into practice that truly demonstrate the impact of these sessions. Below, we share two examples of individuals who took action on their own properties following attendance at these workshops and are now seeing amazing transformations in their local environment.
Lisa's story
Featured in the August 2025 edition of City of Ipswich’s Landholder Partnerships newsletter, landholder Lisa applied skills from a fire planning session, with help from a Nature Conservation Grant, to enhance both ecological management and future fire preparedness on her property.
Deeply committed to ecological restoration, Lisa has made significant progress in clearing weeds such as Asparagus, Lantana, and various herbaceous weeds across her property. An advocate for "observation," Lisa has also recorded many native species, including the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa) and red-necked wallabies (Notamacropus rufogriseus). Her careful work ensures these animals, and the hollow-bearing trees they depend on, continue to thrive.
We applaud Lisa’s dedicated efforts in also installing seven fire break trails throughout her property as part of the Ipswich City Council partnered project, with plans to undertake an ecological burn in the future.
Tony's story
With the success of this first burn - due to good planning, consultation with experienced practitioners and burn preparation - Tony plans to use fire more as a land management method in the future on other areas of the property.Land For Wildlife May 2025 (Article by Nicole Byrne Land for Wildlife Officer City of Moreton Bay) |
As featured in the May 2025 edition of the Land for Wildlife newsletter, landholder Tony successfully used fire across his 16-hectare property to renew native ecosystems – many of which require fire in order to thrive – and to reduce invasive weeds.
He credits his confidence in conducting this first ecological burn to attending a Property Fire Management Workshop, hosted by the City of Moreton Bay in collaboration with Healthy Land & Waters QFBC, and the Queensland Fire Department. The session provided him with the essential guidelines and practical knowledge to plan and execute a planned burn safely at the end of the 2023 planned burn season.
With help from his family and a neighbour, the burn was undertaken over a four-day period, with Tony and his wife monitoring the site during the evening to ensure there were no visible embers. Twelve months after the burn, Tony reported seeing a marked change across his property, with small saplings sprouting through the ash, and great recovery of native grasses, logs and leaf litter for wildlife, leading to a healthier landscape.
These stories showcase that with the right knowledge, practical confidence, and local connections, all landholders can effectively use fire to reduce weeds, renew ecosystems, and protect their properties, creating a lasting conservation impact.
