As we near that time of the year when landowners start dropping matches, filling the air with health threatening air-borne particulate matter, it’s timely to highlight some lesser-known impacts of burning.
We had observed one of those threats following an intense fire which blackened a swampy gully running through our property in 2017. Prior to that fire, any storm event would see the wetland erupt into a deafening roar as thousands of frogs seemingly emerge from nowhere to spawn.
However, for years following that fire, the wetland remained eerily silent and even now, after eight years, only six of the fifteen originally recorded species have returned, and even those are in greatly reduced numbers.
Our observations have been mirrored in a study that was conducted by Newcastle University and the Australian Museum 18 months after the devastating 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.
That extensive study involved the collection of 16,000 files of overnight acoustic recordings of 35 frog species across more than 400 sites in northeast and southeast NSW. These found that the fires had significantly reduced the distributions of at least six frog species and others that are now locally extinct.
One worrying fact for us is that our frog ponds, constructed near the house and not fire impacted, were equally silent, with only low numbers of four species in residence eight years later.
What we need to remember is that frogs are fairly low on the food chain, and while frog-lovers might cringe at the thought, they are, nevertheless, crucial to the survival of a wide range of mammals, birds, and reptiles who depend on these amphibians for food.
University of Newcastle’s lead researcher, Dr Chad Beranek, made a very pertinent observation when pointing out that these findings raise serious concern for the survival of frogs under an increasingly fire-prone climate.
With no real rain falling in the Clarence for the past three weeks, and temperatures rising into the 30s, why are fire permits still not required? Clearly the authorities are still not taking the bushfire threat seriously.
- John Edwards
Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 24th September, 2025.
