A 52 page discussion paper focused on David’s home community of Daylesford and Hepburn where it is already influencing community and local government action.

It covers a wide range of issues relevant to bushfire vulnerable communities in Australia and abroad including psychological and social preparedness through to management of fire prone landscapes. All of these issues are addressed in the context of the wider climate/energy/economic crisis and illustrate permaculture thinking beyond, but including, the garden.

“This document is intended to stimulate discussion toward a whole of community approach to making our communities bushfire resilient both in physical sense and psycho-socially. It focuses on how private preparedness and community organization can be accelerated to complement the professional and volunteer fire services in making our community more resilient in the face of bushfire threat both in the coming season and the longer term. This document is also intended to stimulate similar processes in other towns and settlements in and beyond Hepburn Shire and may be useful in informing planning in areas severely affected by recent fires. Given that many issues of management of public land in and around town are often controversial and that I have considerable knowledge (and passion) about this subject, much of this discussion paper focuses on public land management in and around our community.

Industrialised societies have used fossil-fuelled technology to build resistance (rather than resilience) to stresses from both natural and man-made disasters. Awareness of the likely impacts of Climate Change and Peak Oil have highlighted the strong, but brittle nature of industrial societies and the need to develop more flexibility and resilience in our economies, communities and nations.“

David Holmgren “Melliodora” Hepburn July 2009

Download the Hepburn Bushfire Plan. Also see David’s presentation at the Sustainable Living Festival in 2010.