Good news stories

West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project Partners win 2011 Banksia Award

In 2007 we won a Eureka Prize for an innovative idea, but this win in 2011 is more satisfying because it is turning an idea into a sustainable project benefitting country and people on country.
Peter Cooke, Warddeken CEO

Five indigenous ranger groups in the Northern Territory are this year's recipients of the 2011 Banksia Award in the Indigenous Caring for Country category, for their groundbreaking work on a greenhouse gas abatement project in Western Arnhem Land.

The project was inspired by senior Aboriginal landowners in Western and Central Arnhem Land, who commenced discussing ways to manage fire in the warddewardde (sandstone) country in 1997. This led to the establishment of the Western Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project in 2006, with the partners of Warddeken Land Management, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, Jawoyn Association and the Mimarl and Adjumarlal Rangers using strategic dry season burning to prevent late hot dry season fires, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ranger groups undertake their work in remote and challenging conditions, utilising contemporary methods (helicopters and aerial incendiary machines) to emulate traditional patterns of burning. In accepting the award on behalf of the ranger groups, Dean Yibarbuk, a Director of Warddeken Land Management said "The use of two toolboxes-one based in indigenous tradition and the other with roots in science-allowed us to bring wildfire back under control in Western and Central Arnhem Land".

The project set an annual target of 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ abatement. It has exceeded these targets, abating 707,000 tonnes of CO₂ between 2006-2010. This project addresses the threat of late, hot and frequent fire to this area. Western Arnhem Land is highly significant in the NT for biodiversity, supporting threatened and endemic species, large areas of rainforests, as well a being a region rich in rock art galleries and high cultural values.

Nimbin Rocks Aboriginal Rangers Plant 10,000th Tree

A day of celebration took place on Wednesday 5th of October 2011 at Nimbin Rocks, in northern NSW, to acknowledge the ongoing achievements of the Nimbin Rocks Aboriginal ranger team. The celebrations began with a community tree planting of the 10,000th 'Working on Country' tree.

The team of 8 rangers, employed by Ngulingah Local Aboriginal Land Council, are now in their third year of working to protect and restore the biodiversity around this highly significant, cultural and sacred site of the Bundjalung Nation.

The new plantings across the two Aboriginal owned properties at Nimbin Rocks are grown from seeds of diverse, endemic species that the ranger team has collected and then propagated in a nursery on site. The trees have been planted along degraded edges of riparian zones; in subtropical rainforest areas; and in moist and dry sclerophyll forests to support environmental restoration.

• More about the Ngulingah Local Aboriginal Land Council

Waanyi Garawa and Garawa Rangers win Landcare Award

Waanyi Garawa and Garawa Indigenous rangers, supported under Working on Country, are proud winners of the 2011 NT Indigenous Landcare Award. The Award was presented on 13 October 2011 for the rangers significant achievements in reinstating a traditional fire regime across Waanyi and Garawa country.

Before commencing their Working on Country project, Waanyi and Garawa Traditional Owners were concerned that their country in the Gulf of Carpentaria was being damaged by weeds, feral animals and large wildfires. Eight years after their first land and sea management meeting, the Waanyi Garawa and Garawa Indigenous ranger groups were funded through Working on Country to employ 7 Indigenous people on a full time basis in late 2008 to manage the 16,000 square kilometre Land Trusts on behalf of Traditional Owners.

Prior to 2008, the Gulf Region had been plagued for at least 15 years by large, frequent, hot wildfires occurring late in the dry season. These fires were up to >18,000 square kilometres in size, burnt across property boundaries, and were having a major impact on the region's biodiversity, cultural sites, infrastructure and pastoral values. During the 2009-2011 early dry season periods (before the end of June), rangers worked hard in close collaboration with the community to reinstate a traditional fire regime. Using a blend of modern methods (e.g. helicopter) and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, the program has been implementing a prescribed burning program of early dry season patch burning.

• More about the Garawa and Waanyi/Garawa Rangers