DEC under fire

THE Department of Conservation and Environment is under attack from South West environmentalists after a DEC burn reignited and left three quarters of Benger Swamp Nature Reserve in flames.

The Preston Environment Group, South West Environment Centre and Global Warming Forest Group are calling for an Auditor General’s Office inquiry into planned burning practices by DEC after an experimental burn lit in the reserve last week reignited to rage out of control.

Burning about 360ha and threatening homes, it took 90 firefighters, supported by three fixed-wing water bombers, a helicopter and 24 bushfire appliances along with five heavy earth moving vehicles, to contain the fire.

The reserve was habitat to the Southern Brown Bandicoot and a number of migratory birds including the threatened Australasian Bittern.

Preston Environment Group convenor Peter Murphy said the fire had been devastating for the reserve’s fauna and other animals which depended on the site for their existence.

‘‘After experiencing the driest summer on record and with the reserve being a wetland and isolated — along with the weather forecast for hot and blustery conditions, what on earth was DEC thinking?’’ Mr Murphy said.

District manager for the Wellington District Drew Griffiths said the purpose of the burn had been to remove a small, isolated area of the weed Typha from

within the reserve by completely burning it away.

‘‘The Typha out-competes local native species of rushes and sedges and also completely invades the open water bodies within the swamp itself which provide critical habitat for hundreds of ducks, swans and other species of water birds every year,’’ Mr Griffiths said.

MrGriffiths said all burns were prepared under a standard set of guidelines and the precautions taken had more than met those guidelines.