– Commissioner Rob Rogers delivering his opening address
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s Bushfire Program delivered their 14th Biennial Bushfire Conference over two days on the 21st and 22nd May, with over 224 people attending in-person at the Sydney Teachers Federation Conference Centre, and an additional 53 joining online. Across the two days, delegates heard from 62 presenters and in attendance were representatives from over 110 organisations.
It was an excellent two days with presentations from a wide variety of speakers across the variety of session themes such as “Lessons from a changing climate”, “Sustaining people, nature, and Country”, and “Monitoring fauna and fire”. Our line-up included impactful opening addresses that set the scene for the following two days of presentations. Theses addresses were delivered by
- Commissioner Rob Rogers – NSW Rural Fire Service
- Naomi Stephens – National Parks and wildlife Services (NPWS)
- Laura Babian – NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).
A special thank you to all those who presented, particularly the keynote speakers:
- Emeritus Professor Ross Bradstock – Environmental outcomes of strategic fire management: known knowns and unknowns and the case to ‘burn in order to learn‘.
- Professor Don Driscoll – New insights from The Australian Megafire Synthesis, Jack Pascoe – Restoring Biocultural Landscapes in Maar Meereeng.
- Associate Professor Rachael Nolan – Changing fire regimes are impacting forest carbon stocks.
- Dr. Rachel Morgain – Fostering socio-ecological approaches to addressing systemic risks in bushfire emergency response, recovery and resilience.
- Dr. Jack Pascoe – Restoring Biocultural Landscapes in Maar Meereeng
- Greg Mullins – Los Angeles and wholesale destruction could it happen here?
The conference brought together agencies, Traditional Owners, fire practitioners, scientists, landholders and policymakers for insightful discussions, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration. This year’s event held special significance as the Hotspots Fire Project celebrated its 20th anniversary and 70 years since the inception of NCC. Positive feedback was received with the following quotes demonstrating a few highlights:
- “Congratulating the organisers on bringing together so many practitioners under one roof and canvassing a bunch of different issues.” – A delegate from the conference.
- “I thought it was excellent – I really enjoyed meeting researchers and practitioners from a wide range of fields and groups.” – A presenter from the conference
– Delegates taking in one of the many presentations
The first day concluded with a vibrant poster session and a well-attended conference dinner. Conversations centred on the guiding theme – Can we burn to learn? Sustaining people, nature and Country. Day two also showcased a variety of presentations and included the themes “Communities taking the lead” and “Restoring country and culture”. Throughout the event some important debates were held including a well-received panel discussion rounding off day two. Some key takeaways included better recognition and practice of Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP), improving collaboration and co-design with traditional owners, reconsidering the strict fire interval thresholds, and increasing our capacity as fire practitioners to ensure better resilience in the near future. Important discussions were also had around fire affected communities and mental health; facilitated by the presentations about the new NatureFix app and from the University of New England (UNE).
– Applause from the audience as one of the sessions wraps up
– A delegate checking out the posters presented at the poster session
Again, a big thank you to all our Conference Sponsors for making this event possible.
Special thanks to our Platinum Sponsors and their opening addresses during Session 1, from Rob Rogers, Naomi Stephens, and Laura Babian, representing the NSW Rural Fire Service; NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and Science and Insights; and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, respectively.
We also thank our Gold Sponsors GHD for their valued address and sponsoring the poster session and UNE for sponsoring the conference dinner and the presentation on mental health in fire affected communities. Thank you to our silver sponsors; Humane world for Animals who hosted a stall throughout the conference and delivered a presentation on integrating wildlife into fire management practices; and NSW Fire + Rescue for their support and involvement with the conference.
Finally a big thanks to the bronze sponsor Bush Heritage Australia and their presentation on cultural burning. Overall, it was an impressive few days and keep an eye out as materials from the conference are released.
To read more about the Conference Field Day that took place on the 23rd March 2025 click here.
To revisit the previous bushfire conference held back in May 2023 click here.
This article was written by Campbell Goff, the Healthy Ecosystems Project Officer with the Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s Bushfire Program.
Images: Taken by Jay Wennington
