All Australian states and territories face the challenge of finding solutions to managing risks to life and property as well as natural ecosystem changes caused by an increasing population in high bushfire risk areas.  However, encouraging communities to take an active role in bushfire planning and management is challenging in communities where people do not have the experience of the risk posed by bushfires nor vegetation management methods to reduce risk.

In Victoria the consequences of the conflict between environmental values and risk created by the population shift was highlighted in the findings of the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission.  Recommendations from the findings required an increased focus on fire prevention, planned burning as well as sustaining ecological resilience.  While that direction provides a strong emphasis on a planned burn target for public land there remains scant attention to private land where native vegetation is fragmented and where local communities have limited capacity and support infrastructure.

With an increase in the use of planned burning comes the need to consider ecological outcomes.  The capacity of fire agencies to do this on their own is limited so community engagement and partnership with natural resource management agencies and land owners is crucial.

Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia have all developed or are in the process of developing programs to meet this need.  As a consequence of the similarities in these state based programs, the Interstate Fire Alliance was formed to share the lessons of landowner engagement in fire management to produce a more unified approach to addressing the problem.

This paper will discuss the lessons learned and the progress so far of several programs aimed at bringing together the fire agencies, land management agencies and land owners using innovative community engagement models.