Fire Frequency In South-Eastern Tasmania

We agree with von Platen et al. (2011) that an understanding of fire history is important in considering fire regimes for conservation. However, their contribution indicates a lack of understanding of the history of Aboriginal fire management in Australia and the relationships amongst the frequency of fire, the severity of fire and vegetation structure. Though they purported to test fire scar dendrochronology against the historical fire record, they actually tested it against the record of years with 'bad' or 'widespread' fires. There was no test of the probability of fire scarring in relation to fire severity. Their discussion of land management history was superficial, and Aboriginal management was not described. The fire regime reported by these authors for the period of Aboriginal management is clearly at odds with historical records.