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Fire is a natural part of Fraser’s landscape, but in recent years the austral winter dry season has extended later into spring and also been warmed by climate change. According to Jamie Shulmeister, a researcher with New Zealand’s University of Canterbury who has studied Fraser for years, that cures the vegetation faster and makes it ripe for fire to run uncontrolled before it’s noticed.
“In the old days,” he says, “that sort of fire could easily have happened, but the likelihood is that it would have petered out after a day or two.” Instead, this one crisped more than 200,000 acres and burned for two months straight.
Fraser is sparsely populated, and its pockets of homes and businesses were spared. But the island’s geology is unlike anywhere else. It is home to plants and animals living in sensitive niches, such as acidic swamps with fish and amphibians specially adapted to tolerate the water’s chemistry.
Even in areas that evolved with fire, flames that burn too hot can destroy vegetative cover, allowing sand to move with the winds. Once that starts, the island’s dune system can shift, potentially reconfiguring whole ecosystems.
That’s not the only risk. Thus far, it appears fires did not penetrate Fraser Island’s rainforest, Shulmeister and Fensham both say. But a South American tree fungus called myrtle rust infects vegetation near its edge. Big hot burns combined with myrtle rust can alter the ability of shade species to regenerate, making it hard for rainforest plants to take root. For the rainforest, fire can pose “an existential threat to its survival,” Shulmeister says.
It will be years before Shulmeister can say for sure whether this blaze sparked damage that can’t be undone. For now, he hopes the Fraser Island fire is “mostly a warning sign.”
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