The annual program is underway to reduce the risk of bushfires to communities living in Melbourne’s urban fringe suburbs.

This year’s program – run by Parks Victoria as part of Forest Fire Management Victoria – plans $3.7 million of work, including maintaining fuelbreaks and firefighting vehicle access tracks by slashing and mulching vegetation at strategic locations near communities.

In the lead-up to and throughout the 2019/20 summer season, the program will slash grass along over 700 kilometres of fuelbreaks and resurface over 70 kilometres of fire access roads in parks throughout outer metropolitan Melbourne, the western plains grasslands and the Mornington Peninsula.

Over 4,600 hectares of public land will be treated for noxious weeds and pest animals. The work also maintains drainage culverts, installs gates and prepares future planned burn sites by mulching vegetation and removing hazardous trees.

The program complements the planned burning program carried out across the state.

To see the work planned across Melbourne’s suburbs, visit: https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/bushfire-fuel-and-risk-management/joint-fuel-management-program. (Ensure that the Mechanical Works layer is switched on)

Quotes attributable to Anthony Maxwell, Senior Manager Fire and Emergency Operations:

“Our program helps protect communities from the threat of bushfires by maintaining fuelbreaks and a network of access trails for firefighting vehicles.

Grass is cut along fuelbreaks based on its dryness, or ‘curing’, not grass height. Grass slashing will occur at different times, depending on local climate conditions in individual suburbs.

Householders near parks can also help prevent the spread of fires to and from their properties by keeping grass cut, clearing gutters, pruning shrubs and trees, and removing rubbish and weeds from around the home.”

The program will run in around 70 parks throughout Melbourne, including:

Northern Melbourne
Kinglake National Park
Mullum Mullum Park
Plenty Gorge Parklands
Warrandyte State Park
Warrandyte – Kinglake Nature Conservation Reserve
Westerfolds Park
Woodlands Historic Park
Yarra Bend Park and Yarra Valley Parklands

Western Melbourne
Craigieburn Grasslands Nature Conservation Reserve and Cooper Street Grassland Nature Conservation Reserve
Derrimut Grassland Nature Conservation Reserve
Maribyrnong Valley Parklands
Mount Ridley Nature Conservation Reserve
Mt Cottrell Nature Conservation Reserve
Organ Pipes National Park
Point Cook Coastal Park
Ravenhall Nature Conservation Reserve
Truganina South Nature Conservation Reserve
Western Plains Grasslands

Eastern Melbourne
Braeside Park
Bunyip State Park and Kurth Kiln Regional Park
Cardinia Creek Parklands
Churchill National Park, Lysterfield Park and Dandenong Police Paddocks Reserve
Dandenong Ranges National Park, RJ Hamer Arboretum and Selby Bushland Reserve
Dandenong Valley Parklands
Upper Beaconsfield Nature Reserve
Wright Forest Bushland Reserve
Yarra Ranges National Park
Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve

Mornington Peninsula
Mornington Peninsula National Park, Arthurs Seat State Park and Main Ridge Nature Conservation Reserve
Coolart Heritage Area
Devilbend Nature Reserve
Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve
French Island National Park
Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve
Point Nepean National Park
The Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve