BMAP Uplift Project

Bushfire Management Area Plans – A visual Journey

What are Bushfire Management Area Plans?  

BMAPs create a single, trusted source of information to coordinate bushfire risk reduction across South Australia. It shows who contributes (firefighters, First Nations, primary producers, infrastructure owners, state and local government, experts, committees), what they share (fire science, assets, cultural knowledge, environmental information), and how that shared insight is used to prioritise and coordinate mitigation across regions. The overall message emphasises collaboration, accountability, and improved resilience through coordinated, evidence‑based decision making. 

How BMAPs Are Used to Protect South Australia 

BMAPs are applied across four community and landscape roles to reduce bushfire risk and strengthen resilience.  

• Utilities — highlights protecting critical infrastructure and coordinating activities across service networks, such as water, telecommunication. and power. 
• First Nations — emphasises cultural stewardship, caring for Country, and applying traditional knowledge to risk reduction. 
• Local Leaders — shows how visual BMAPs help leaders interpret science, communicate choices, and build community preparedness. 
• Primary Producers — focuses on farm stewardship, balancing production and landscape management with strategic advice. 

BMAPs create a single, shared source of truth that enables cross‑sector collaboration, coordinated mitigation, and informed decision making to protect people, assets, and Country from bushfire 

Bushfire Management Area Plan Development Cycle 

A continuous, framework showing how communities and agencies reduce bushfire risk: Understand (assess hazards and values), Plan (set objectives and coordinate stakeholders), Do (implement mitigation actions), and Reflect (evaluate outcomes and adapt). These steps form an iterative planning process that links landscape knowledge, collaborative decision‑making, on‑ground action, and learning to improve resilience over time.

Preparing the Landscape to Reduce Bushfire Risk

Two approaches to bushfire management — a split landscape shows Apart Without BMAPs on the left and Together With BMAPs on the right to contrast outcomes when planning is fragmented versus coordinated.

Apart Without BMAPs shows fragmented, asset‑focused responses with role confusion, misplaced effort, unmanaged land, and slower, less effective mitigation; visual cues include flames, smoke, a silo, and isolated responders.

Together With BMAPs displays coordinated, landscape‑scale action enabled by BMAPs — shared priorities, better planning, cultural fire and land management, ready resources, and improved community safety; visuals show people collaborating, healthy vegetation, and organised mitigation infrastructure. 

Key message: creating a single source of truth for landscape risk (BMAPs) shifts effort from isolated asset protection to strategic, collaborative mitigation that increases effectiveness and resilience.

Bushfire Management Area Plans — A Single Source for Safer South Australian Communities

BMAPs bring people, knowledge and action together into a single, practical plan that makes complex bushfire risk simple and actionable: by combining fire science, cultural knowledge, land management practices, and local priorities, they create a trusted regional map that guides who does what, where and why. The process is iterative — Understand → Plan → Do → Reflect — so decisions are grounded in place, tested on the ground, and improved over time.

When utilities, First Nations, land managers, local leaders and primary producers share information and align around the same priorities, effort shifts from isolated asset protection to strategic, landscape‑scale mitigation that is more efficient, equitable and effective. In short, supporting and using BMAPs means sharing local knowledge, coordinating activity to a common plan, and treating risk reduction as an ongoing cycle, resulting in clearer roles, fewer gaps, and safer, more resilient communities and Country.

Artwork by Dana Hayman Designs