Bringing Parts 1 and 2 together
Parts 1 and 2 have given you a picture of your block: what sort of country it is, how often it has burnt and whether that suits it, where each part of it sits in the growth stages, and which are your most fire-sensitive plants. The lookup tool can put all of this on a few pages for you to keep.
What Parts 1 and 2 told us about the example block
Where it is. The block sits in the Greater Grampians bioregion, on sandy colluvium washed down from the ranges. That is country that grows heathy vegetation, which is flammable, burns hot, and relies on fire to regenerate.
What grows there. About 40% of the block is mapped as Heathy Woodland, with smaller areas of Shrubby Woodland and Damp Sands Herb-rich Woodland. The rest is cleared paddock. The two woodlands belong to the Grassy / Heathy Dry Forest fire division, which can take a fire every 15 to 45 years. The damp sands woodland belongs to Forby Forest, which is far more tolerant of long gaps.
How often it has burnt. Four fires are on the record since 1939: a bushfire in 1939, a small planned burn in 1990, the 2006 Mt Lubra fire and the 2025 Yarram Gap Road fire. Both 1939 and 2006 burnt the whole block. The 2025 fire burnt a little over half of it.
Whether that suits the country. The 19 years between the 2006 and 2025 fires is within the tolerable range for Grassy / Heathy Dry Forest, but only just. The burnt part of the block is now recovering, and another fire before about 2040 would come too soon. The part that escaped in 2025 is within its range.
Its current growth stages. The part that burnt in 2025 is juvenile. The part that escaped last burnt in 2006 and is mature, and with most of the surrounding bush burnt in 2025, it is the scarcer stage.
The plants to look out for. Nine seeders, among them Silver Banksia, Desert Banksia and Showy Parrot-pea, may not have set seed between the 2006 and 2025 fires, and are the ones to survey for first on the ground that burnt twice. The other seeders should be fine if fire stays out until 2030.
The Print report button at the top of the Wimmera Bushfire Ecology Lookup Tool puts the key findings for your block on a few pages, with maps, fire timelines and photos of the plants to watch. Print it, or save it as a PDF to email. Take it to your Landcare group, or keep it with your property plan (Part 5).