Fire in the Marshes by ecoPULSE / Kim V. Goldsmith published on 2021-09-12T00:33:44Z Fire is an element that has shaped the Australian landscape for thousands of years – a tool of management used by nature and humans. Phragmites reedbeds of the Macquarie Marshes become tinder during dry periods, susceptible to dry summer storms. It only takes one strike for fire to take hold, smouldering quietly until the flames gain energy. On a Saturday afternoon in late October 2019, a fire raged across the Northern Nature Reserve of the Marshes, burning 3,000 hectares before being brought under control the following morning. If there’s follow-up rain or sub-surface moisture, the reeds will come back. Some of the old river red gums flanking the reedbeds weren’t so lucky – it’d been one drought too many for them. Genre Storytelling