My name is Penny Watson and I am privileged to know something of the magic of fire in the bush.
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The purpose of this website is to share that magic with you.
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I am a fire ecologist by profession and a lover of the bush by nature.
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My passion is plants: hanging out with them, studying how they work, taking their photos, growing them – and lately, drawing them. I am especially into the way Australian native plants respond to fire.
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In 2020 we are being buffeted by powerful forces that can easily produce fear and despair. For many Australians, the 2019-20 bushfires have been part of that. On this website I hope to provide, in some small measure, an antidote to post-fire eco-anxiety.
Flannel flowers, 2 years after bushfire, Girraween, Qld
What about climate change?
Bushfires can be devastating to human communities, and that has certainly been the case in several fire seasons over recent decades in Australia, including the spring and summer of 2019-20. There is evidence linking the upswing in destructive fires in south-eastern Australia to climate change, which is affecting fire weather in that part of the country. There is no doubt that Australia needs to do much more to reduce its carbon emissions. It is also true that there may well be negative ecological consequences from the 2019-20 fires. Time, and well-designed research, will tell.
It's not all dead!
Despite what you hear in the media, burnt bush is not “All dead”, or “All destroyed”. The power of Australian native plant species to regenerate is phenomenal, and that is just what the vast majority will do in the weeks, months and years after these fires.
How do I know? Because I have seen it, time and time again, from both a scientific perspective and as a curious observer wandering through the bush.
Native succulent, 14 months after bushfire, Warrumbungles, NSW
Find photos of plants regenerating after the 2019 bushfires in the From the Ashes section of the website.
Discover how plants regenerate after a fire, and more, in the Fire Ecology 101 pages.
Also on this website, visit my favourite bushland places, and find links to other information about fire and native plant communities.
I don’t claim to have it all figured out. There is always more to learn. My aim is to share what I see, and understand, at this point in time.
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I have worked mostly in New South Wales and south-east Queensland, in places where mean annual rainfall is over 600 mm – ie where plants grow thick enough to provide fuel for bushfires, once things dry out. On this website, I will mostly focus on these areas, because they're what I know well. In other places, relationships between fire and plants are somewhat different, though there will still be common ground.
Regrowth, 6 months after bushfire, Mt Kaputar, NSW
I acknowledge the Turrbal and Jagera people of the lands on which my home city of Brisbane now stands, as well as the Traditional Owners of other lands featured on this website, paying respect to Elders past, present and future. Indigenous people in Australia have cared country for thousands of years, managing it sustainably and using fire with sophistication and care.