The bushfire risk could be reduced by next summer with forest groups calling for international land management strategies to be used in NSW.

The forest industry and CFMMEU are calling for fuel loads in national parks to be aggressively managed with hazard reduction and logging.

The NSW government is considering creating a standalone hazard reduction body that would be devoted to reducing fuel loads that are part of the nation’s 132 million hectares of native forest.

Australian Forest Products Association CEO Ross Hampton tells Natalie Peters and Erin Molan machines need to be used to clear out forests in order to make more park-like areas around lakes and communities.

He says the fuel load could be significantly reduced by next summer.

“If we really doubled down and tried to do what they do in America we could make a difference.

“It would be a real shame if at the end of all this we don’t do anything different.”

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Image: Getty/Simon McGill