A group of researchers look up from the forest floor in Victoria.

Forests & fire

Forests provide ecosystem services that are critical to humans and the sustainability of our environment. Our research focuses on management of critically important native forests and woodlands, including forest ecology, landscape restoration, wildlife conservation, ecologically sustainable forestry, and the effects of fire and climate.

About

Forests provide ecosystem services that are critical to humans and the sustainability of our environment. Our research focuses on management of critically important native forests and woodlands, including forest ecology, landscape restoration, wildlife conservation, ecologically sustainable forestry, and the effects of fire and climate.

Projects

Researchers at the Fenner School have been working in the Tumut and nearby Nanangroe regions west of Canberra for 25 year. The work is exploring the impacts on biodiversity of plantation establishment on semi-cleared farmland.

Student intake

Open for Bachelor, Honours, Masters, PhD students

People

Members

Affiliate

Tony Bartlett

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Photo of Associate Professor Cris Brack

Honorary Associate Professor

Emeritus Professor

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Academic staff

Senior Lecturer

Geoff Cary

Professor
Deputy School Director
Associate Director (Research)

Photo of Claire Foster

Research Fellow

Photo of Associate Professor Gibbons

Professor

Peter stands and faces the camera in a blue shirt.

Professor

Executive committee

Geoff Cary

Professor
Deputy School Director
Associate Director (Research)

Student

News

A logged area of Victorian Mountain Ash forest

We’re losing our forests at an alarming rate. Our new study shows we’ve lost roughly 300 million hectares over the past 11 years. But is it being restored?

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A coral reef with a school of fish swimming above.

Climate change continues to inflict serious and accelerating damage on marine ecosystems and wildlife, according to new report led by the Fenner School.

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Albert van Dijk stands in a Australian woodland forest and looks up at the canopy of the trees.

Ongoing shifts in the global water cycle amplified floods,droughts and heat extremes in 2025, according to a new report involving an international team of researchers, led by Professor Albert van Dijk from the Fenner School of Environment and Society.

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A logged area of Victorian Mountain Ash forest

Native forest logging will now be subject to national environmental standards – legally binding rules to set clear goals for environmental protection. But where are the details of these standards? And how will they be enforced and monitored?

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A map in red, orange and blue that shows flammability.

What if we could see how dry the vegetation is in near real time before fires start? That’s now possible thanks to a publicly available tool.

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Two men  outdoors

In this collaborative project, researchers are working to develop future satellites for fire management by using traditional Indigenous knowledge and collaborating on remote sensing technology to help manage wildfires.

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