During the hot and dry Summer months, bushfires triggered by lightning strikes, often rage through the forested areas surrounding the Valley, cleansing and rejuvenating the bushland in a natural life cycle.  The eucalypts that dominate the landscape have a highly flammable oil in their leaves to accelerate  burning and several plant species rely on fire to encourage new growth or to release their seed pods.  Many native animals rely on this habitat of renewed vegetation for their continued survival.

The indigenous inhabitants of this area understood the importance of fire in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and actively employed controlled burning in the region for many years before European settlement. Until recently, careful back burning in the region by locals also minimized the threat of bushfire danger to homes and livestock in the Valley. Through pressure from well-meaning environmentalists or ‘greenies,’ this is now banned so the threat of serious fire danger to the farming community in the Valley is now a greater concern.