Over the coming months, Parklands and the City of Wodonga will be taking a proactive approach to managing local bushfire risks, not just for the coming season but on a landscape scale and for the forseeable future.

Parklands have received funding from the Commonwealth and Victorian government’s Natural Disaster Resilience Partnership to develop a Strategic Bushfire Plan. The plan will provide a consistent approach to the management and mitigation of bushfire risk in Wodonga’s extensive bushland reserves.

Together, Council staff and rangers will seek to better understand the risks specific to each reserve so that appropriate mitigation strategies can be undertaken, such as planning for future bush restoration and revegetation projects and resourcing fire season preparations such as fire breaks and environmental grazing.

A consistent scientific  assessment process will be used to classify the reserves as Low, Moderate or High bushfire risk. Fire mitigation actions will be identified for each level of risk, creating clear blueprints for management priorities across the natural reserves managed by Wodonga City Council and Parklands Albury Wodonga .