David Barton lost his Marysville home and business during the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 and he's now a passionate advocate for fuel reduction burns as a way to minimise the threat of bushfires.
Mr Barton recently showed Stock & Land journalist Joely Mitchell around his property, which neighbours the state forest, and pointed out the fire risk and where fuel reduction burns could play an important part.
"This is the back end of my property which joints onto this state forest," he pointed out.
"It highlights the necessity of having some controlled burning regularly because a lot of these smaller trees will re-grow every couple of years and it actually only takes a year or two for these plants and bushes to grow to a height of about three or four metres.
"So that's why it's really necessary to burn and re-burn this country every three to four years just to keep these levels of plants down."
He then pointed out some newly-grown gum trees.
"They are quite thick, and a small, cool burn will actually assist in thinning some of those out so that the taller ones will actually survive and the smaller ones might get killed off," he said.
"But that helps to keep the bush open and will certainly minimise any chance of a hot burn the next time a major bushfire comes through this area."
You can watch the video below.
Joely Mitchell
Joely started her career at Stock & Land as a cadet journalist in 2016. She is now the editor of the paper.
Joely started her career at Stock & Land as a cadet journalist in 2016. She is now the editor of the paper.
