“Increased damages to ecosystems and settlements, economic losses and risks to human life from wildfires in most of southern Australia” are identified as a key regional risk for Australia during the 21^st century by the second Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The NSW Government conducts hazard reduction burns as an important part of its overall bushfire risk management. These burns are conducted when there is a period, or window, of favourable weather conditions. However, we do not fully understand the typical timing and frequency of these hazard reduction burn windows across the NSW landscape. Without this knowledge, we also cannot predict the impact of climate change on these windows.

A joint project by the Science Division of the Office of Environment and Heritage and the Fire Incident Management Section of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is addressing these knowledge gaps. We will create a suite of HR burn-related metrics in consultation with NPWS staff and other stakeholders, then use observational and climate model data to define their current and likely future climatology.

If climate change adaptation research is to be successful, it will require a collaborative approach that engages practitioners from project conception to completion and beyond.