About the webinar

In this thought-provoking webinar, "Making Peace with the Forests," Prof. Phil Zylstra will explore the deeper cultural and ecological dynamics of bushfire management in Australia. He will examine whether current burning practices truly reflect Aboriginal tradition, or if they represent a departure shaped by colonial interpretations. Phil will also unpack the science behind bushfire risk—what drives it, and how human intervention can either worsen or reduce it. Central to his talk is the idea of cooperation with Country: how we can begin to reconcile with Australia’s forests and support their natural resilience. He will also address one of the biggest barriers to change, confronting the ongoing impacts of colonisation culture and the distortion of science in shaping land management policy.

About the speaker

Prof. Phil Zylstra is a fire behaviour scientist adjunct with Curtin University and ANU. His research focuses on the mechanisms that drive fire behaviour, the ways that these interact with forest ecology, and the insights to these links we can gain from deep time learning by First Nations. Coming from an applied background conducting burns for high country graziers, fire management in the NSW Snowy Mountains and remote area firefighting, Phil's work has an intense focus on finding the most important question and getting an answer that will make the difference.