The role of fire on pastoral lands in northern Australia

In northern Australia fire has been regarded as an essential component of pastoral land management, but its use has not always been appropriate or beneficial. This paper examines the interaction between livestock grazing and fire, the effects of grazing intensity on the frequency, extent and intensity of natural fire regimes, and the need for intentional burning. The author describes the role of fire in managing woody plant populations, maintaining pasture conditions, managing grazing distribution, increasing the availability of nutritious herbage to cattle, and reducing the hazard of uncontrolled wildfires. The author also emphasises the need for land managers to understand fire ecology and the interactions between season, burning and grazing on a landscape scale in order to use fire as a sustainable management tool.