Forestry Corporation’s partnership with Aboriginal communities will increase bushfire preparedness on the mid and north coasts of New South Wales.

The Fire, Country and People: Aboriginal Community Disaster Ready partnership has been awarded $1,477,632 in funding under round one of the Australian Government’s Disaster Ready Fund.

The $3-million strategic partnership reducing the risk and impact of natural disaster is equally supported by $1.48-million in funding from Forestry Corporation.

Taking bushfire protection back to the age-old grassroots of country, the strategy involves a strong partnership with Aboriginal communities to improve disaster readiness.

“The funding will be used to train and implement burning to keep communities safe on the North Coast,” Forestry Corporation’s Aboriginal Heritage and Partnerships Manager John Shipp said.

“The use of fire is only one aspect of the land management of Aboriginal communities, but it’s best practice in land management that has existed for sixty odd thousand years,” Mr Shipp said.

“Part of this strategy is making sure communities are using traditional techniques to make sure they are safe, if and when, the next lot of wildfires happen.

“As one of the four firefighting agencies in New South Wales, Forestry Corporation will combine its firefighting expertise with the traditional knowledge of those lands, making sure we will come up with the best practice for those communities.

“The partnership has been years in the making, making sure we got this program right with our communities and making sure we are working in well together.

“We also have worked hard to make it real to make sure we will help pay people to burn their country. The planning process has been guided by communities as to how they work with fire management.”

For more information about Forestry Corporation of NSW, visit forestrycorporation.com.au