Cultural burning boosts native shrub density in restored Indigenous fire management study

A new study published in the Australian Journal of Botany shows that cultural burning—Indigenous fire practices restored after 180 years on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in semi-arid southern Australia—significantly boosts the density and reproductive output of native bluebush shrubs (Maireana species). Researchers from Charles Sturt University, working with the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, compared burnt and unburnt grasslands, using these shrubs as indicators of native species response to cultural fire management.