The QFBC: Celebrating 20 Years
On a perfect Brisbane winter day, over 200 people gathered together at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens to celebrate 20 years of the Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium (QFBC).
With the theme Fire, Research, and Partnerships, this anniversary forum showcased applied fire ecology and on-ground fire management projects and programs that highlight the value of partnerships and longevity in applied fire ecology and on-ground management.
As always, there was a focus on translating science into practice, with a session dedicated to local fire research and student projects. With an impressive line-up of engaging and skilled speakers, post-presentation question time was busy and there was much chatter and swapping of business cards and numbers during break time.
In a time of ever-increasing pressure on resources and people’s time, it is a remarkable achievement for the QFBC to have reached 20 years.
The QFBC would like to extend a huge thank you to our sponsors, the Ecological Society of Australia, Brisbane City Council, the Centre of Excellence for Prescribed Burning, and NRM Jobs. Thanks are also extended to our Welcome and Opening presenters, Margie Milgate (HLW) and Superintendent James Haig (QFES), keynote speakers Elizabeth Ashman (Department of the Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Vic), Emeritus Professor Rob Whelan (University of Wollongong) and Professor Alan York (University of Melbourne) for their engaging presentations and all our wonderful speakers.
Special mention goes to our student presenters for braving the 200-strong audience to share their research, Session Chairs Chandra Wood (Brisbane City Council) and Mark Ready (Toowoomba Regional Council) for keeping us on track and the Country Women’s Association (Pine Rivers Branch) for once again providing delicious, homemade catering.
The Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium
Established in 1998, the QFBC, is a network of land managers and stakeholders committed to improving fire and biodiversity management outcomes, supporting and disseminating fire ecology research, facilitating partnerships between key stakeholders and building the capacity of land managers and private land owners to address issues of fire management and biodiversity in south-east Queensland. The QFBC is embedded with Healthy Land & Water and is supported by the Australia Government’s National Landcare Program.
www.fireandbiodiversity.org.au.
For more information, please contact Dr Samantha Lloyd on 0438 008 668 or