Restoring fire management to Australian deserts: progress after a decade of burning

Background Indigenous people used fire in Australia’s deserts over millennia. Colonisation interrupted these practices, but Indigenous and conservation sectors are now restoring desert fire management for cultural, social and biodiversity outcomes. However, evaluating progress is difficult – inter-fire intervals are long and variable – and fire regimes are dominated by extensive fires after above-average rainfall. Aim To determine whether, despite these challenges, a decade of fire management has influenced fire regimes at four large, separated locations (each 1250–7850 km2) in Australia’s spinifex deserts. Methods We used Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery to create a >20 year fire history (1997–2019) at four locations, then investigated temporal patterns in seven fire regime metrics, whilst accounting for rainfall variation. Results Management caused (1) a change in fire season (more burns in cooler months); (2) a larger number of smaller fires; (3) an increased seral heterogeneity with burnt/unburnt patch sizes decreased, time-since-fire recovery stages more evenly distributed and mature vegetation extent stabilised. These changes occurred despite above-average rainfall in 2010–2011. Conclusions Management can change desert fire regimes, bringing expected cultural and biodiversity benefits. We provide recommendations for further improvement, noting that prescribed burning in remote deserts is operationally challenging, and investment is needed to meet capacity gaps, and knowledge sharing, monitoring, and research priorities.