Grant Allan

Department of Tourism Sport and Culture

I began my career in fire management in Alice Springs in 1982, while on a working holiday from Canada.

IU joined a CSIRO research team, which was supported by the NT Government, to develop a fire management strategy for Uluru National Park and improve our understanding of fire ecology across central Australia.

I then joined the NT Government in 1989 to work with the Conservation Commission. I worked on a variety of vegetation and fire projects, including the development of GIS databases for NT Parks.  In 1998, I moved to Bushfires NT to join the newly formed Fire Research Unit.  Over the next 15 years I contributed to fire research projects across the NT and helped the Central Land Council’s Indigenous Rangers improve their fire management with training and capacity building in aerial prescribed burning. I also made a significant contribution to planning and coordinating prescribed burning and fire response during the 2001-02 and 2011-12 fire seasons in central Australia.

I than moved to Parks and Wildlife in 2013 to support fire management on central Australian parks.  I work with rangers to improve their practical fire management capacity, fire plans, spatial databases, and fire response and suppression.

One of the most enjoyable experiences of my working career was flying by helicopter into remote areas of the spectacular West Macdonnells National Park to help inspiring young park rangers develop fire management skills to conserve biodiversity values and protect park visitors.