What is the Gippsland Strategic Bushfire Management Plan (SBMP)?

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1 About this Survey Background Bushfires in Gippsland pose a real threat to lives, homes, jobs and the environment. Managing bushfire risk is an ongoing and shared responsibility a partnership in which everyone has a role. Safer Together is about fire and land agencies working with communities to reduce bushfire risk across both private and public land. Bushfires burn across public and private land. Gippsland s fire agencies want to work in partnership with local communities so that fire science and expertise is combined with local knowledge to minimise the impact of bushfires, by understanding what people care most about and working with them to determine local solutions. Bushfires are a part of life in Victoria, but together we can minimise their impact and create safer communities, a thriving economy and a healthier environment. What is the Gippsland Strategic Bushfire Management Plan (SBMP)? In 2015, new technology developed in partnership with the University of Melbourne was used to identify those areas in Gippsland where bushfires posed the greatest risk of causing harm. Using this information, together with bushfire history and local knowledge, a strategic bushfire management planning framework was developed. This framework has formed the basis of Fire Operations Planning since 2016, based on where fuel reduction on public land can most effectively reduce the risk of bushfire to the community. Land and fire agencies are working in partnership with communities to update existing strategic bushfire management plans and extend them to include bushfire management strategies to reduce the risk of bushfire on private land. Through stronger community partnerships and the latest applied science, the Gippsland SBMP will guide how fire agencies can most effectively reduce the risk of bushfire on both public and private land. Agencies working together and leading the next generation of the Gippsland SBMP include the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Parks Victoria (PV), Country Fire Authority (CFA), Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) and the six local councils of Gippsland. The Gippsland SBMP will inform the bushfire component of the Gippsland Regional Strategic Fire Management Plan to guide agency approaches to bushfire management into the future. How long will this process take? It is expected that the Gippsland SBMP will be completed by June Why is community feedback important? The best possible fire management strategies are informed by community input and tailored to local environments. With more scientific rigour behind bushfire management strategies, combined with in-depth local knowledge and experience, and a better understanding of the community s values and objectives, fire agencies will know where planned burns need to be undertaken to protect what matters most to communities across Gippsland. So far this year, people from land and fire management agencies across Gippsland have worked to identify a number of core values and fundamental objectives to guide strategic planning (please refer to Appendix A for more information on this process). To ensure these values and objectives align with the broader Gippsland community, direct feedback from the community is needed.

2 You can help us understand what the Gippsland community values the most by participating in one or more of our three online surveys. These are intended to: 1. Identify values and objectives for bushfire management (September 2018). 2. Provide opinion on a number of alternative fuel management strategies (January 2019). 3. Provide feedback on the selected strategy to inform future versions (April 2019). You will be able to say if you identify with the values and objectives, if you agree with the goals for strategic bushfire management, if you have ideas on alternative strategies, and also have the opportunity to provide other feedback to guide future updates to the Gippsland SBMP. What are values and objectives? Values are important and lasting beliefs or ideals about what is good or bad, and desirable or undesirable. Values shape the way we live our lives and how we interact with others and the environment. We know many people in Gippsland care about the effects of bushfires, and how we go about fire management. If we understand what is fundamentally important to people, we can take this into account when developing and communicating fire management strategies. Objectives are the goals we want to achieve. In strategic fire planning, these are what we believe we need to aspire to in order to support the fundamental values of the Gippsland community. There are many possible objectives, each with differing importance and impact, but these have been reduced to the five fundamental objectives that the Gippsland land and fire management sector believes are critical to supporting our fundamental values. What are bushfire management strategies? Bushfire management strategies are developed by considering how we work together to: build a better understanding of bushfire risk and mitigation options better target fire prevention programs to reduce the likelihood of a bushfire starting reduce the size and impact of a bushfire on public and private land through fuel management programs that are based on community values and risk reduction targets work with high risk communities to develop Community Based Bushfire Management Plans that improve preparedness for, safety during, and resilience after bushfires by establishing effective communication systems, safe areas within townships and effective evacuation options. In the current SBMP process, strategies for fuel management on public and private land are being developed. Planned burning is one of a range of actions that can be undertaken to reduce bushfire risk. Others include slashing, mowing, creating fuel breaks and maintaining infrastructure like water points and lookout towers in forests and parks. How will the final Gippsland Strategic Bushfire Management Plan be determined? The final SBMP for Gippsland is a long-term plan that will guide the approaches used by land and fire management agencies across the region to reduce the risk from bushfires. The SBMP will describe how risk from bushfire occurs across the region, what levels of fuel management and other approaches should be achieved to manage that risk, and how mitigation actions should be implemented to reach those levels. Multiple workshops will be held with practitioners from land and fire management agencies across Gippsland to identify a number of alternative strategies that are acceptable, achievable, realistic, and within budget. 2 Gippsland SBMP

3 Each of the alternatives will be assessed against how well they meet the fundamental values and objectives regarding bushfire management of both the fire management sector and the Gippsland community. Alternative strategies will be presented to the public for feedback in February Gippsland s land and fire agencies will work together to ensure that community feedback is evaluated and informs each stage of the process as well as the final SBMP, which will guide the future of fire planning operations in Gippsland. A reference group of external experts will also evaluate how strategies have been developed and selected, and how well they reflect the values and objectives of both the Gippsland community and the fire management sector. The final bushfire management strategies will guide operational planning for the delivery of fuel management and other risk reduction activities, including the following: Joint Fuel Management Plans (JFMPs) for public and private land Regional Strategic Fire Management Plan Municipal Fire Management Plans. How will my information be used? The information you provide in this survey cannot be linked to you individually, unless you explicitly state your name and/or residential address. We respect your right to privacy, and as such, many questions in this survey are optional. For more information regarding privacy and your rights, please refer to the privacy policy on How can I get more information? As part of registering on to participate in this survey, you will be automatically notified when the next survey is released as part of the Gippsland SBMP process. If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list, please send an to Gippsland.SBMP@delwp.vic.gov.au For more information on Safer Together, please visit Gippsland SBMP 3

4 Appendix A How the core values and objectives were identified Sixty-seven staff from 16 land and fire management agencies across Gippsland took part in two intensive workshops to identify fundamental values for bushfire management in Gippsland. The participants in this process were separated into groups of 3 5 people to undertake various exercises, with each group led by a member of the Strategic Bushfire Management Planning Team (SBMPT 1 ), who acted as a facilitator. In Exercise 1, each group was provided with example fundamental values and fundamental objectives that had been developed by the SBMPT and were asked to review and amend these and nominate additional values and objectives. After preferred values and objectives were shortlisted to a maximum of 4 values and 6 objectives, the SBMPT collated the results and identified common themes. The next part of the process called for participants to vote on preferred phrasings for the identified values and objectives that were similar. Exercise 2 was a live data collection activity where all alternative phrasings of values and objectives were voted on by workshop participants. This involved the use of the KP1 system, which is a live polling process that captures participant responses to pre-formed questions through entering selections on an individual keypad. This system allowed each participant to vote anonymously and independently from others, as the aggregated responses were only displayed once voting was completed by all. For Exercise 3, participants were provided with a paper task sheet with each of the values and objectives identified and refined through exercises 1 and 2. Workshop participants were asked to first rank the values in order of importance to them, with 1 being the most important. Once these were ranked, participants were then asked to give a relative score of importance to each of the values from 0 to 100, with the value they identified as most important in step 1 being given a score of 100. Each other value, was then to be given a score of importance in relative terms to the value scored as 100. For example, if value A was given a score of 100, and the participant felt value B was only half as important as value A, then value B would be given a score of 50. Once participants had ranked and scored the values, they were asked to rank and score the objectives in the same way. The results from exercises 1, 2 and 3 were then pooled across both workshops and assessed by the SBMPT to provide a final list of fundamental values and fundamental objectives. Key result 1: Fundamental values for strategic fire management in Gippsland Fundamental values were defined as the ultimate, durable reasons we care about bushfire and fire management. The final values are listed below: Human Life Wellbeing: individual, social, cultural Nature: biodiversity and ecosystem function 1 The SBMPT comprises 12 representatives from the CFA, Parks Victoria, Local Government and DELWP. This team reports to the Safer Together Executive Committee for Gippsland, which is a sub-committee of the Regional Strategic Fire Management Planning Committee (RSFMPC). 4 Gippsland SBMP

5 Key result 2: Fundamental objectives for strategic fire management in Gippsland Fundamental objectives were defined as the core set of goals we want to achieve with fire management in Gippsland. The final objectives are listed below: Minimise human life loss and serious injury Minimise social, livelihood and economic disruption Minimise disruption to essential services and critical infrastructure Minimise loss of community and cultural assets Minimise decline in native plant and animal populations Diagram 1. The hierarchy in Diagram 1 shows the links between actions and values. Values can be considered fundamental if you can no longer ask the question Why is that important and you have to consider that it just is. Gippsland SBMP 5