Riparian vegetation is a crucial component of landscapes, influencing numerous ecological processes from local to landscape scales. Riparian areas differ from the upland vegetation communities in their biophysical settings, management and disturbance regimes. Consequently, the riparian fire regime and fire effects are different from the adjacent lands, and vary among river types. Fire is likely to have particularly important effects on biogeochemical processing as well as cause the loss of ground cover and increase surface erosion, resulting in instream nutrient, sediment and turbidity spikes. In floodplain areas open patches created by dry season fire are often colonized by complex submerged macrophytes communities that can enhance the number and extent of areas of relatively open patches of high productivity on the floodplain. However with a changing climate comes the increasing risk of catastrophic fires, managing this risk, yet conserving biodiversity in riverine habitats is challenging. Of concern is that the restoration of vegetation along waterways can result in dense vegetation along these corridors that have been implicated in fire spread across the landscape as it acts as a fuse for fire spread. Unmanaged riparian areas with dense grass and/or weed growth can present severe fire hazards that promote increased weed invasion and subsequent spread of more intense wildfires. This presentation will discuss the effects of fire on the riparian and instream ecosystems and the need to balance fire risk and biodiversity values.