Quantitative assessment of the effect of agency-led prescribed burns and cultural burns on soil properties in Southeastern Australia

Fire management techniques play a critical role in mitigating the impact of bushfires on communities and ecosystems. In Australia, government agencies implement hazard reduction burn programs, while Indigenous communities have used fire for ecosystem management for thousands of years. The positive effect of prescribed burning goes beyond bushfire risk mitigation, with impacts also on soil and ecosystem health. This study evaluates the effects of prescribed burning on soil properties, with implications for soil and ecosystem health. Two fire management techniques were evaluated: agency-led prescribed burning and cultural burning. Both fire treatments resulted in an increase in soil moisture, showing that they positively affect the soil water balance (the greater effect seen following the agency-led burn). Both fire treatments also resulted in a decrease in soil bulk density and an increase in organic matter content, with the greater effect seen for soils affected by the Indigenous-led burn. These results show that both fire management techniques positively affect soil health, with important consequences for aboveground ecosystem health. Cultural burning is the most efficient to promote reduced soil bulk density (important for nutrient availability and microbial activity) and increase carbon and nitrogen stores.