Housing insulation being trialed as a way to protect scar trees

The foil-like product Sisalation was wrapped around Indigenous scar trees during the Black Summer bushfires and trials are continuing during planned burns to refine the technique.

Results have so far been promising, Indigenous elders leading the trial say.

Scar trees serve an important purpose in Australian culture by linking Indigenous people with their ancestors and country.

Regional heritage specialist Uncle Gerry Laughton, who has dedicated his career to protecting the heritage values of Indigenous cultures, said scar trees were particularly vulnerable to wildfire and radiant heat and the method to wrap trees in foil was one of several ways he was trying to protect them.

"There's been so much change to the landscape and the bush through new methods of managing, particularly with fire and pastoralists changing the landscape, along with logging and the urban sprawl into the bush," Mr Laughton, a Arrernte and Luritja elder, said.

"What this does is move a lot of the evidence of heritage values but we have a moral responsibility to protect what little is left in the landscape that links back to the First People."

Mr Laughton works as an advisor to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and said Sisalation had proved effective by mitigating the risk to scar trees during the Black Summer bushfires.

Scar trees are a source of material for Indigenous people to build carrying vessels known as coolmans, historically used to carry food and infants.

He said the department was carrying out trials during planned burns in Gippsland to understand the best way to protect the trees through the use of the material.

Trials at Deddick, McKillops Bridge and Warratah Flat in the state's far east during the 2019/20 bushfires, where large clusters of scar trees are located, showed Sisalation stopped the wrapped trees from burning.

The material is used as an insulation in homes to prevent wind and moisture and radiant heat.

"It took us five months before we could get back in to remove the Sisalation and that was only due to safety issues surrounding the fires," Mr Laughton said.

"We found in the Warratah Flat area the fire had come close to the trees but they didn't burn."

Other mitigation methods including removing the ground litter around from around the drip lines of the trees were also used.

Scar trees at Deddick and McKillops Bridge were not affected by fire or radiant heat, however, Mr Laughton said mould and moisture had grown on some trees because of the length of time the wrap was left.

"It told us time was critical to remove the Sisalation after the fire," Mr Laughton said.

Trials are also including different methods to hold the wrap in place, including using duct tape or wire to prevent the material from slipping amid a fire.

"Both the tape and wire produce different results but to date we've found using wire allows the trees to breath better, whereas the tape allows the trunk to breath less resulting in some moisture build up," Mr Laughton said.

A presentation about the effectiveness of wrapping scar trees with insulation will be made at the Indigenous Cultural Heritage Conference in Melbourne in October.