Fire-Aware Revegetation: How Green Firebreaks Can Build Landscape Resilience

Green Firebreak planted at our demonstration site in the Victorian Volcanic Plains.

Climate change, increasing bushfire risk, and biodiversity loss are transforming our landscapes. New research is helping show how revegetation – done thoughtfully – can be part of the solution. 

Recognising these challenges, and with support from the NAB Foundation, Greening Australia and the University of Melbourne have explored how strategically designed plantings of native vegetation – called Green Firebreaks – can help slow fire spread, restore habitat, and store carbon. 

This approach doesn’t involve clearing land like traditional mineral earth breaks. Instead, it integrates bushfire risk mitigation into revegetation design, leading to ecological restoration that supports biodiversity and risk mitigation goals. 

What are Green Firebreaks?

Green Firebreaks are native species plantings designed to reduce flammability through targeted species selection and spatial configuration. 

But how effective are they in an Australian context? Can they be scaled? And are they a practical tool for landholders? 

These are the questions we set out to answer. 

Diagram showing comparison of fire behaviour under different vegetation scenarios (Marshall et al. 2024).

Backed by science

With support from the NAB Foundation Environmental Resilience Fund, Greening Australia partnered with researchers at the University of Melbourne from the FLARE Wildfire Research team, to identify optimal Green Firebreak planting designs. The research aimed to understand Green Firebreak effectiveness in mitigating bushfire risk, enhancing biodiversity and sequestering carbon under a range of environmental and weather conditions in south-eastern Australia. 

The research involved:

• Developing a model to identify and test planting design elements for Green Firebreaks that improve biodiversity and carbon sequestration whilst maintaining or reducing bushfire risk to people and property; 

• Modelling the influence of Green Firebreak planting designs on fire behaviour across different ecosystems in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia; 

• Testing the use of Green Firebreaks as a management tool under future climate scenarios; and 

• Establishing a 54-hectare demonstration site on a working sheep farm in western Victoria
  

  A variety of native species were planted to retain soil moisture and increase diversity at our demonstration site.

What did we learn?

When placed strategically in cleared or degraded areas, Green Firebreak plantings can reduce wind speeds and alter fuel structure in the landscape, ultimately to help slow fire spread,  while also delivering benefits for biodiversity and carbon storage. 

Specifically, the research demonstrated: 

1. under certain conditions, Green Firebreaks reduced fire intensity and spread compared to a cleared or grassy paddock; 
2. some planting designs lowered the risk to people and property by up to two fire risk categories; 
3. Green Firebreak planting designs improved local biodiversity and carbon storage; however, 
4. Green Firebreaks aren’t a silver bullet – they don’t reduce risk everywhere and should be used alongside other fire management strategies like prescribed burning. 

Effectiveness varies by site, weather, and planting design, making local context critical. 

Putting research into practice

To show how the research can be applied on-ground, we worked with a landholder in the Victorian Volcanic Plains to establish a Green Firebreak demonstration site. 

We designed and planted native species over 54 hectares to recreate the structure of open grassy Eucalypt woodland – using scattered trees, low-growing shrubs and groundcovers. The planting configuration aims to break up fuel loads, reduce wind speed, and slow fire rate of spread which collectively help to mitigate bushfire risks to nearby habitat and infrastructure assets. 

Recreating open woodland structure through scattered trees and shrubs, helping to reduce wind speeds.

This living example is already generating strong interest from landholders, natural resource managers and researchers, and it’s just the start. 

For a more detailed look at the science, planting design principles and how Green Firebreaks could work on your land, explore our factsheet: 

Explore the Brochure

Why this matters

As bushfire risk escalates in a warming climate, there’s an urgent need for strategies that reduce risk without compromising nature. Green Firebreaks offer one such option – a nature-based solution that works with the landscape, not against it. 

Thanks to the support of the NAB Foundation, we now have a base to build on. But more research, funding, and partnerships are needed to scale these solutions and support landholders to act. 

Want to Learn More or Get Involved? 

• Read the full Green Firebreaks research publication. 

• Explore other nature-based solutions we’re working on 

• Contact us to discuss how we can support your restoration goals 

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