Welcome to the latest Hotspots News Online. The Hotspot team is busily running workshops across the state, as well as wrapping up a tailored workshop program in the Hunter. Upcoming workshops are scheduled in the South East, Central West and the Murrumbidgee catchment regions – the Murrumbidgee being a new delivery area for Hotspots. If you are interested in attending a workshop in your area, click on the link provided in the ‘Upcoming Workshops’ article below.

October 2013 will be remembered as one of the most significant fire emergencies experienced in NSW for many years, with fires returning in January resulting in further property damage near Forbes, Yass, Tumut and Corowa. In February, rain across NSW saw the threat of fire ease. As we head into the cooler months, now is the time to start thinking about preparing your home and property for the next fire season.

A new landholder booklet for the Murrumbidgee catchment is now available as well as a case study on the collaborative work in the Border Ranges restoring habitat for the endangered eastern bristlebird, see details below.

As always the Hotspots team would like to hear from you...please forward your feedback, and be part of our regular "have your say" article.

Kind regards,                                                                                                                          
The Hotspots Team

October 2013 will be remembered as one of the most significant fire emergencies experienced in NSW for many years. We had an early start to the fire season, with over 5,000 bush and grass fires reported in NSW during the period 1 July to 31 December 2013. In September and early October, fires threatened homes in the Taree, Great Lakes, Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Cumberland areas...  Read more...

Hotspots will be running several workshops in the coming months for the areas of Burra (Murrumbidgee Catchment), Tanja/Murrah (Southern NSW), Berrima (South East NSW), and Wuuluman (Central West). During these workshops landholders have the opportunity to increase their knowledge and participate in property fire management planning to address both protecting assets and maintaining biodiversity... Read more...

The Hotspots team has been working with the Hunter Local Land Services (formally the Hunter Central-Rivers CMA) to deliver tailored workshops to landholders within the Hunter region who have an existing Property Vegetation Plan (PVP). The Hotspots team are assisting landholders to develop a property fire management plan that builds on their exiting PVP agreements...           Read more...

The Hotspots team has just completed the Landholder booklet for the Murrumbidgee region. The booklet, specifically designed for landholders in the region provides an introduction on how fire can be managed for healthy productive landscapes and also presents a framework for incorporating fire into property fire management planning activities... Read more...

Hotspots has produced a new case study on the collaborative work currently happening in the Border-Ranges region to help save the endangered northern population of the eastern bristlebird. With only about 30 birds left in this population, an alliance of eight organisations has joined together to achieve knowledge sharing, on-ground monitoring, community engagement and practical action to help save these special birds from extinction. Read more...

Thank you to all who provided feedback on the Hotspots program via the survey or direct phone calls. We really appreciate hearing your views and are currently working to integrate the findings into future program delivery.  Amanda Edwards has been evaluating the program as part of her PhD at the University of Wollongong, working in collaboration with Jacki Schirmer from Canberra University... Read more...

Dr Phil Borchard - A legacy and testament to the aspirations of the Hotspots Fire Project
Dr Phil Borchard, Environment Officer (Hotspots), passed away from a rare form of cancer on 9 February 2014. There is no doubt that the success of Hotspots is a direct result of the team’s dedication and hard work. An absolute testament of this was the passionate and tireless effort provided by Phil. Read more...