World Expedition - Index

World Expedition - booklet - Index

fire management
One of the memorable experiences of camping is sitting
around the campfire. However, most of the landscapes
that World Expeditions visit are extremely sensitive and
often timber is a scarce and valuable resource. As visitors
to these regions trying to minimise our impact, we usually
will not have a campfire. In many environments fire
disrupts natural energy flows and consumes resources and
habitat that would otherwise be turned into soil by
invertebrates and microbes.
Many environments such as sub-alpine areas and
rainforests are too sensitive for fires so we will only use
fuel stoves. However, there are some environments where
a camp fire may be lit, such as environments with regular
seasonal fire regimes. In cases where we do have a small
campfire, here are some tips to follow:
� We will not have a fire when there is any danger of the
fire getting away or it is illegal to do so, such as during
a fire ban.
� We will always keep fires small. “The bigger the fire the
bigger the fool”.
� You will be expected to pitch in and collect dead wood,
listen to the advice of your leader on what types of
wood to collect and from where to collect the wood.
� Be sensitive as to what you are walking on when
collecting wood and always ensure that timber is fully
dead and detached from the tree that it came from.
� Never collect hollow
or partially buried or
decomposed logs.
These form perfect
habitat for countless
organisms such as
snakes and lizards
and play an important
role in the creation of
soil.
� Remember that spiders,
centipedes and many other critters love to live among
dead wood and will defend their homes as you would,
so use caution.
� It is offensive to many cultures to throw rubbish onto a
cooking fire.
� Plastics give off toxic fumes and aluminum foil does
not burn fully, therefore, both of these should be placed
in the rubbish or recycling, not in a fire.
� Remember that river stones explode and rings of stones
are unsightly to future travellers.
Our camps are never bland and we doubt that you would
even notice that there is no fire because you will be too
busy relaxing, recounting the days activities, getting to
know your group and crew, getting a better understanding
of the culture or being entertained by a live display of the
traditional dance and song performed by your crew.