5/2/14 Jindabyne - Parks Office - Canberra

Another day of exploration and discovery!  And hurrying!  We began the day at breakfast in a bakery near our hotel in Jindabyne.  They are big on meat pies here - they all look like small pot pies. And there was quiche, so some people had egg based pies.  I had a meat pie which was pretty good.  Odd for breakfast but good!  Then of course, since it was a bakery, we had pastries.  Our driver Mick refers to them as "naughty bits" which we thought was hysterical!  And the coffee, well, we finally got the hang of it.  The main orders are "flat white" and "long black."  Flat white is coffee with milk (there doesn't seem to be any cream used EVER for coffee) and long black is like an Americano.  Mostly loving the long black!  We have many photos and are trying to add to them. Take a look at the Dropbox link to the right.  May be duplicates, may be poor shot,s but I'll sort & delete when I have time.

So let's see, back to business.  After breakfast went to a Parks Office to learn more about Kosciuszko State Park.  Learned about the history of the place, how its structured and the role fire plays.  I don't have many details as I lost all my notes for some reason. But I do remember that the main point was the collaboration between the 3 states that border around the park: New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT. They meet regularly to talk about fire management, especially the sharing of resources and willingness to help each other on an informal basis. There are formal agreements at the state level, but local collaboration is informal. They have agreements in place allowing them to chase a fire 15 or so kilometers across the border without even calling to say they are there.  But they also help without worrying about funding.  Is not unusual for one state to fight a fire across the border that they picked up, or that the owner state is too busy to deal with.  So they fight the fire and pay for it without worrying about being repaid.  Ian Dicker says its about good will and good relationships.

Funny quote of the day, as we are finding many!  Ian referred to something that rarely happens as "Rarer than rocking horse poo!"  Now that's rare!

The drip torch on the front of the Green Dragon

Saw some "toys" used by the firefighters here in the park.  There was the Green Dragon, something also used in Florida.  An all terrain vehicle with a drip torch at the front and I think a CO2 tank at the back.  They use two people, one to drive and one to fire.



They also had what they called the blow drier seen below!

The "Blow Dryer!"

It's a truck with a platform on the back that has a large engine and a nozzle/tube maybe 6 or 8 feet long, about 12 inches across and curved.  The nozzle can rotate in any direction. When the fuels are damp or wet and they can't get a burn going, they drive along and blown on it to get it going!  Sounds like a jet engine but is apparently pretty effective!  The study group was loving it and quite envious.

Then it was back on the bus for a long drive back to Canberra where we were invited to participate in the first International Symposium on Bushfire.  Six countries represented by high level people (some ambassadors and Commonwealth Senators) involved in their nation's fire response and fire policy: Canada, Mexico, America, New Zealand, Australia and France.

Tom Harbour on far right.

Tom Harbour, Forest Service Director of Fire and Aviation (seen in picture to the left) spoke first and talked about what he saw as challenges in our future: the increased connectedness and therefore expectations of the world,  the increase in size and complexity of all fires, the paradox of a public that is feeling generally safe because we are good at what we do but that maybe aren't as safe as they feel and, maybe most importantly, the distance of most people from the natural ecosystems around them.  Many don't know where their food comes from or where water originates.

Our host Neil Cooper
addresses the symposium

In fact, he suggested that perhaps worldwide concern about the future of our water supply might be a way to connect people to an ecosystem that is important to them and thereby, to the place of fire in that ecosystem.  Harbour was followed by a French researcher talking about the Wildland Urban Interface in France.
Fascinating afternoon with more to come today.

The Symposium was followed by a very nice reception where we were able to celebrate the retirement of Gary Morgan, an Aussie who has been a long time friend of the cooperative sharing of learning between the US and Australia.  Tom Harbour gave him a chrome Pulaski.  Nice evening and we are ready for more today.