Central Land Council

Aboriginal Rangers

 

Ranger Programs

The Central Land Council (CLC) supports local community involvement in land management through ranger programs. These programs are always received enthusiastically in remote communities and help Aboriginal people to stay out bush and meet their traditional obligations to country.

Participants are on the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) and receive a ‘top-up' wage. Rangers gain valuable ‘hands on' experience and some chose to formalise their training through courses at Batchelor and CDU. It is hoped that an increasing number will gain full-time employment in the future.

The main ranger groups include Walpiri Rangers (based in Yuendemu with new groups starting in Willowra and Nyirripi), Wulaign Rangers (Lajamanu), Tjuwanpa Rangers (Hermannsburg) and Muru-Warinyi Ankkul Rangers (Tennant Creek). These programs are extremely popular and help to keep culture alive and strong.

Most ranger programs receive many small pockets of funding from a wide variety of sources. They are extremely vulnerable to funding crises and their coordinators spend an overwhelming amount of time acquiring and acquitting funds. The CLC will continue to support these groups to gain greater financial security in the future.

Significant Ranger Projects

Sangster's Bore (Lungkartajarra) Threatened Species Project

In May 2005, 13 Warlpiri Rangers from Yuendemu took part in the first of four field trips to Sangster's bore, 200 km north of Yuendemu. The trips were part of a Threatened Species Network funded project to look after walpajirri (bilby), jajajina (mulgara) and warrarna (desert skink).

The area is of high conservation value and one of the few remaining sites where large populations of bilbies, mulgara and desert skinks exist in the Northern Territory . The project aimed to find out where the threatened animals were living and whether eradication of feral predators such as cats and foxes would have an impact on threatened species numbers.

The survey work included trapping, tracking, collecting kuna (poo) and recording information on the GPS and relied heavily on ranger's traditional knowledge of animals and country. All three threatened animals were found at two of the three surveyed sites and evidence of cats, foxes and dingoes were also found.

Rangers wanted to kill foxes but didn't want to bait dingoes, so with the help of Parks and Wildlife staff they developed a clever dingo proof baiting device. (incl. pic). The device is too small for a dingo nose to fit in but the right size for a fox to take the bait. Two months after the baiting program there were no fox tracks and one dead fox was found.

Joint projects like this one are very important. They use traditional knowledge and modern techniques to help find out more about the animals disappearing from this country and how to look after them into the future. Warlpiri rangers will continue the project with another round of monitoring and baiting in autumn 2006.

Lajamanu IPA

In 2005, a group of five young indigenous rangers and seven senior traditional owners from Lajamanu participated in a two week field survey in the Northern Tanami . They wanted to determine the country's conservation status and build the group's capacity to sustainably manage it - ideally as an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA).

The Wulaign rangers worked with Traditional Owners, Parks and Wildlife, NT Herbarium staff and the Australian Heritage Commission to find out more about the conservation value of the area and likely management issues. They have surveyed many sites for wildlife and cultural heritage values and, in the process, learnt about western ideas of conservation and traditional practises to keep country strong.

The highlight if this region is its value as a last bastion for a number of threatened species including the Gouldian finch and bilby. Uniquely it is desert country but with dependable rainfall – a factor that will help prevent feral species such as foxes from gaining a foothold.

The northern Tanami IPA is nearing declaration, and will deliver ongoing federal funding to support indigenous land management in this area.

Tanami Biodiversity Monitoring Program

Warlpiri and Wulaign Rangers have taken a big step forward by agreeing to monitor the cumulative and ongoing impacts of mining, wildfire weeds and feral animals across a 40,000 km2 site in the central Tanami. The project is funded by Newmont mining, in collaboration with the CLC and enables the company to meet their environmental monitoring requirements to the Northern Territory Government, whilst providing rangers with 10 weeks a year of solid land management work across a vast area of country. The monitoring program ensures that comparative data is available so that any changes in biodiversity can be detected.

Techniques for surveying include pittraps, elliot traps, tracking and bird counting. All aspects of the survey work are greatly enhanced by traditional knowledge and encourage the transfer of traditional knowledge from senior landowners to younger rangers.

It is hoped that the Tanami Biodiversity Monitoring Project model can be used in other areas to utilise the skills and knowledge of traditional owners in the monitoring and management of the impacts of mining on their country.

Tjuwanpa Rangers

The Tjuwanpa rangers are a relatively new group but have emerged after many years of requests from traditional owners for local jobs and training. Ideally located near high profile national parks such as Finke Gorge and the West MacDonnells , the group quickly got involved in a range of park management activities with Parks and Wildlife Service rangers such as: fencing, infrastructure development, fauna surveys, fire management and weed control. The program proved successful and quickly became prized by participants and park managers alike.

After financial difficulties in 2005, the Tjuwanpa Outstation Resource Centre (TORC) helped revive the program in 2006. They provided a troop carrier to the ranger program and funded the ranger coordinator position for six months to restore momentum. The Tjuwanpa ranger group will continue to work in the national parks and with new funding will expand into the Hermannsburg group of Aboriginal land trusts. The ranger program will incorporate traditional land management activities chosen by senior landowners, to help transfer knowledge and skills to the younger generations. The group will also explore the potential for contract work and tourism opportunities.

The social benefits of the program should not be underestimated. It helps to occupy people and raise collective esteem. The program is one immediate benefit of joint management that is helping to foster working relationships between traditional owners, park staff and other NRM organisations.

Tennant Ck Rangers

Like many places in the Northern Territory , Tennant Creek can be tough for young Aboriginal people. But a group of young Warumungu men and women calling themselves the Muru-warinyi ankkul (‘from the bush') Rangers have been hard at work fencing, monitoring wildlife and studying at Batchelor College in a bid to get themselves jobs and careers in land management.

The group – assisted by the Central Land Council – is now finding it is in demand by mining company Giants Reef, the Heritage Commission, Parks and Wildlife and pastoralists.

The group is also helping on a tourism construction project at Kunjarra (Devil's Pebbles) about 18km north of Tennant Creek. They studied welding and Construction units at CAT (Centre for Appropriate Technology) in late 2005 erected two shelters and fencing at the site. Nyinkka Nyunyu (the local Cultural Centre) plans to start cultural tours to Kunjarra this year.