Firesticks Alliance: Reviving Cultural Fire Across Australia

Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation, co-founded by Tagalaka man Victor Steffensen, is an Indigenous-led charity that trains Traditional Owners and land managers in cultural fire practices, the low, cool burns Aboriginal people have used for millennia to manage biodiversity, protect sacred sites and reduce fuel loads. Over the past decade the network has partnered with more than 35 Indigenous communities across Australia and internationally, mentoring practitioners and running on-Country burns and scientific monitoring to rebuild landscape resilience. The organisation's work was recognised with an Equator Prize by the UNDP-backed Equator Initiative in 2020. Firesticks has since co-developed Australia's first Cultural Fire Credits with the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, creating a new income stream for communities practising cultural burning.