Given the circumstances at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, I find it difficult to use the "H" word in front of
"New Year" that under normal circumstances I would start my message with.
Things are certainly not normal at the moment with so much of the country burning at such devastating levels. Thousands of houses gone, lives lost and landscapes looking like moonscapes. While there is and will continue to be debate about why this has happened, who is to blame, what we can do to prevent it happening again, etc, at
The Mulloon Institute (TMI) we know that
hydrated landscapes don't burn like we have witnessed in recent weeks.
Well before the fires started we had witnessed an increasing interest in our work as the extended drought made farmers and landholders rethink the way they farm and manage their land. (See ABC articles below)
As Charles Massy said at our Field Day last November, "It takes crises to shock people into change". If this isn't a crisis I don't know what is.
So, in 2020
TMI will be upping the ante on landscape rehydration. We have been demonstrating the value of rehydration to the environment, the increased agricultural production, to resilience during drought, to increased water retention and to communities. Now add resilience to bush fires. We won't stop bush fires but rehydrated landscapes will act as a deterrent and reduce the ferocity of them.
In the aftermath of the fires, town and city water supplies will also come under pressure due to polluted runoff from burnt catchments. The work we have done and continue to do is by far the best solution.
Our own
Mulloon Community Landscape Rehydration Project (MCLRP) will help filter and clean runoff from the Tallaganda National Park fire as it flows into the Shoalhaven and on to Sydney's water supply. Similar work needs to commence urgently in all burnt catchments that service towns and cities. In fact, landscape rehydration work will be one of the best practical actions communities can take to improve their water quality after the fires.
Most importantly,
our work offers hope that landscapes can be repaired and rebuilt, making them more resilient to extreme weather events such as the bushfires we have witnessed across our country this summer.
I will return to my 'normal' Chairman's update at the end of the month to cover recent activities, but I feel that with the fire crisis still playing out around us, it is important to let all our followers and supporters know that
we intend to play a significant role in responding to the events of the past month.
