Exotics vs. Native plant as windbreaks and the effects of fire

It is good farming practice to provide windbreaks to reduce wind, keep stock warmer in winter, and provide shade in summer. The Australian "Landcare" movement advocates the use of mixed plantings of native vegetation because native plants should be well adapted to local conditions and be optimal for habitat corridors for native wildlife. 

Native plants are also not only well adapted to surviving bushfires, they also tend to burn readily and with an intense heat. 

This a photo taken 8 weeks after the Bunyip Forest blaze. This is looking south from a point just south of the Bunyip Forest. A spot fire lit up the hillside burning away from the vantage point. The intensity and temperature of the fire can be gauged from the lack of regrowth of grasses on the hillside but with some on the top of the ridge where the fire would have been less intense. 

Windbreaks of native vegetation were completely burnt out while cypress hedges (exotics) should only burnt patches. While exotics will burn, they resist a lot longer than native plants, especially eucalypts.   

Some exotic tree species provide an environment inimical to native animals (i.e. Radiata pine plantations). However, with some exceptions such as koalas, native birds and animals don't seem to differentiate as fruit and nut and grain growers can attest!

The moral of this story is, with the climate showing more and more extremes in weather, what are you going to plant to prove wind breaks in your paddocks, not to mention around your farm house?