Figure 5.

Schematic showing changing fire dynamics following the disruption of Aboriginal burning practices within the rainforests of the Wet Tropics

(A) Pre-1900: Pre-European Indigenous land management in the Wet Tropics Bioregion using fire to maintain open pockets for camp-sites, clear pathways, rainforest/sclerophyll edges, and intact, biodiverse rainforest areas with managed floors (B). Early to mid-1900s: Thickening of rainforest under-growth and invasion of rainforest species into sclerophyll pockets and rainforest/sclerophyll frontiers after restriction of Rainforest Aboriginal People from full-time occupation of country (C). Post 1940s: Disruptions to fire and Aboriginal land management resulting in dense under-growth, which, with human-induced climate warming and aridity, is leading to growing numbers of unprecedented wildfires.