Burn concerns spark protest in Denmark, residents line the streets in bid to halt planned Walpole burn

More than 120 people took to the streets in Denmark on Saturday to protest the planned burning of the red tingle forest in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park. Residents gathered in Denmark to protest against the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ plan to return to the Giants West area to continue a prescribed burn, with hopes to save a specific old-growth red tingle at the top of the protesters’ agenda. The Tingle Action Group has appealed to WA Heritage Minister Simone McGurk to intervene to save an old-growth red tingle estimated at more than 400 years old, which is growing within the planned prescribed burn area. The tree is close to the Gatekeepers mountain bike trail, and measures about 5m in diameter at its widest point. The group is calling for Ms McGurk to issue an emergency stop-work order, part of the minister’s powers under the WA Heritage Act 2018, to begin the process of listing the tree on the State Register of Heritage Places. Tingle Action Group spokesperson Via Stidwell said residents’ concerns about prescribed burn plans had only grown since December 2024, when a prescribed burn in the adjacent Giants East forest felled more than 100 trees. “This tree is an extraordinary living giant and an outstanding example of WA’s rare, endemic and threatened tingle forest ecosystems,” Ms Stidwell said. “There is no doubt it warrants immediate protection and assessment for heritage listing. “We are gravely concerned that proceeding with this burn now places this irreplaceable old-growth tree at unacceptable risk.” A heritage nomination for the tree is already being prepared, but residents argue immediate ministerial action is required. Ms McGurk said the DBCA had identified the tingle tree residents were concerned about, and protection and precautionary measures would be undertaken prior to commencing the burn. Ahead of a planned burn in Mt Clare in December, activists staged a protest in the national park, erecting a sit-in platform 20m up a tingle tree on December 14. Protesters refused to leave until the State Government confirmed the tingle forests would be removed from the DBCA’s prescribed burn plans into the future. On December 21, DBCA’s director-general Stuart Smith confirmed in a letter tingle forests in Mt Clare, Nornalup and Coalmine Beach had been removed from burn plans until mid-2026. A DBCA spokesperson said the department remained committed to science-based fire management to protect both community safety and the ecology of the region. The first ignition of the Giants West area was on October 28, 2025, and a DBCA spokesperson said further ignition in the area was required to ensure “burn security”, and protect community, private property, infrastructure and the environment. “Operational guidelines including scrub rolling, wetting down and the application of fire retardant to the base of large and hollow trees prior to ignition is used to minimise the impacts on vulnerable and veteran trees, such as those that have already been identified for protection by fire crews,” the spokesperson said.