Piccaninny Plains Carbon Abatement

Fire management at Piccaninny Plains involves prescribed burning in the early dry season over a 170,000 ha area. Prescribed burning operations are intended to break-up country, creating a patchwork of fuel loads of different ages.

This limits the spread of any wildfires later in the year and, importantly, ensures that the landscape contains patches of vegetation that is old growth (which many animals need for food and shelter). Fire is also used on Piccaninny Plains to control and reduce weed infestations.

Registered under the savanna burning method, the project avoids the emission of methane and nitrous oxide through the use of strategic early dry season fire management across savannas in north-eastern Australia that receive more than 1,000 mm long-term average annual rainfall. The project will see prescribed burning take place in the early dry season (May – July) and fire suppression occurring in the late dry season (August – December) if required.

The tropical north of Australia is prone to damaging wildfires in the dry season that threaten the unique landscape and its wildlife and release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  The active fire management at Piccaninny Plains is playing a critical role in protecting valuable habitat for wildlife, including threatened species, and preserving unique tropical savanna landscapes, while reducing carbon emissions.