FUNDING for fire scar information published on the North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information (NAFI) website has seized with the tool no longer available since March this year.
Fire scars are blackened land left after bush fires which are detected and mapped using satellite imagery. The data was updated up to every week during peak fire season and allowed landholders to identify different land types around them when burning.
The fire scars for the area of Queensland south of Bowen were previously funded by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services but they were unable to continue supporting the program worth about $60,000 each year.
The area above Bowen is government funded due to the Carbon Farming Initiative Savanna Burning project.
NAFI service manager and Charles Darwin University researcher Peter Jacklyn said the service was well utilised particularly in the southern Queensland region where it would typically get one million page views each year.
“(Fire scars) are pretty useful because if you have an active fire and you know what country has been burnt and what hasn’t that gives you an idea quite often of what will pull it up,” he said.
“It’s used for planning across whole regions.”
Mr Jacklyn said they would gladly offer the service if funding could be found.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
