Katherine Rural
Benung Aboriginal Association
This association manages the Upper Daly Aboriginal Land Trust and is establishing an Aboriginal ranger program to build the capacity of the Wagiman people to manage their country. Beside weed, fire and feral animal management, the program will assist landowners to achieve integration of conservation and development strategies to ensure sustainability of natural resources. The group is encouraging collaboration with agencies such as NRETA and DBIRD in land management and has obtained financial assistance from NHT, NLC and Pine Creek Aboriginal Advancement Association.
Borroloola Community Government Council
The council has been involved in the past three years in rehabilitating and revegetation of the southern bank of Rocky Creek. This year the council staff has been involved in soil erosion workshops and several rock silt traps have been installed on the eroded site. Greening Australia’s Bushcare Team has also been involved in developing green plans with the township and in particular assisting with urban enhancement proposals for the Tamarind Park Precinct.
Elliott Keep Australia Beautiful Group
A request for town beautification by this group has led the Elliott Community Government Council and Gurungu Council to develop a Bushcare project to reduce noise, dust and wind issues in the North and South Camps. A revegetation project has commenced with the women’s centre involved in seed collection for direct seeding. The men of the Gurungu Council have erected fences, readying the sites for direct seeding.
Jawoyn Association
The association has initiated the Jawoyn “One Nation” Land Management workforce program based around the Banatjarl Land Management Centre. The program trains and resources Aboriginal landowners to undertake active management of 18,000 km2 of country. Projects include feral animal, fire and weed control, creating a small agricultural enterprise, and monitoring and managing mining impacts. Provision is made for community education in land degradation processes and natural resource use. The establishment of an Indigenous Protected Area will be considered in the future.
Katherine District Farmers Association (KDFA)
KDFA is interested in weed management and has a representative on the Regional Weed Management Committee formed as a result of the new Weed Management Legislation.
Mabunji Resource Centre
This association provides resources for over 20 outstations in the Borroloola region. They have successfully completed small land management projects and are in the process of developing projects to manage feral goats, turtles and dugongs. With support from the Indigenous Land Management Facilitator and World Wide Fund for Nature Mabunji hopes to develop effective sustainable utilisation of these animals and manage their habitats through the development of the Mabunji Djunkayi Rangers. Because these outstations stretch across much sea and inland country, the rangers will have a mixture of activities in the near future. Mabunji also provides support to fence off a rainforest spring on a plateau on the Jandanku Aboriginal Land Trust (Bauhinia Downs) to keep feral animals out as well as to protect sacred sites.
Mimal Rangers
The Mimal Rangers are hosted by the Gulin Gulin Council and the NLC Caring for Country Unit. The group has displayed much enthusiasm to develop their land management capacity and is working towards getting landowners back onto their country. They are concentrating on weed and fire management around the Bulman area in Central Arnhem Land as well as working with landowners from the south in Roper River (Ngukurr) to develop strategic action towards managing fire across large expanses of largely unpopulated country. Funding is provided by CDEP, Bushcare and ILC.
Minyeri Community
The community has carried out a dust and wind suppression tree-planting project. Hundreds of trees have been planted around the community and tree guards have been installed. The project at Minyeri has been supported by Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Ltd, the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Housing Project and Territory Health Service’s Environmental Health Unit. The community is also embarking upon developing their fledgling cattle potential along with exploring other broader land use options. They have received support from government and nearby pastoral properties for this.
Mungoorbada Aboriginal Corporation
This group manages the Garawa Aboriginal Land Trust. Through participatory planning, the community has identified revegetation and rehabilitation of area around the community. They have fenced off a riparian corridor along the Robinson River to prevent further cattle damage. Weeds are managed in cooperation with DBIRD, and NRETA and the NLC are assisting in fire management across the land trust. The community has shown much potential to develop effective and sustainable land management by diversifying into many other land uses. The women's centre is involved in tree planting and a ranger program is being developed with assistance from the Indigenous Land Management Facilitator (NRETA) and the NLC.
Ngaliwurru-Wuli Association
This resource centre is based in Timber Creek and services outstations in the Victoria River district. It is involved in a range of revegetation and landcare activities focusing on environmental health in the outstation living areas. Projects include planting shade and fruit trees and carrying out dust suppression work. The aim is for a more holistic approach to community planning and housing development. The association hosts the Timber Creek Rangers who are involved in conservation and development planning. They are implementing programs for weed, fire, erosion and feral animal control.
Roper River Landcare Group
The Roper River Landcare Group was established in 1993 and has a broad membership. The group's projects have focused on protecting the beautiful Roper River. The group has completed over 150 kms of river frontage stock exclusion fencing, which has had the additional benefit of assisting feral animal control. In addition the group is involved in a comprehensive Waterwatch program and is now embarking on a vegetation and biodiversity monitoring program. The group has also successfully completed an innovative biological control agent breeding program, where beetles that assist in controlling the woody weed Parkinsonia aculeata were bred by group members and have been released across the Roper catchment and the wider Katherine region. Priorities for the group in the future are improvements in fire and weed management and the completion of an Integrated Catchment Management Plan, which will assist all land managers in the catchment to achieve sustainable land and water management.
Rrumburriya Malandari Council
This council works closely with the Borroloola Community Government Council on land management issues. They aim to train people to recognise and fix issues such as weed invasions and erosion. One of their key activities involves a land stabilisation and rehabilitation project in the Rocky Creek precinct within the town. The local Community Development Employment Program has a parks and gardens unit which is the main player in assisting the community with land management issues. They have recently re-established their nursery in order to grow native tree species.
Sturt Plateau Best Practice Group
This group’s business focus is to help members achieve their potential through improved profitability, sustainability and an enhanced social and community environment. The group wants to enable beef producers on the Sturt Plateau to make a smooth, profitable and sustainable transition from a development area to the forefront of their regional economy. They produced a document called “Sustainable land management for beef production on the Sturt Plateau” with the assistance of DBIRD. The book contains information on good management including assessing for over-utilisation, stocking rates, fire management, drought management, feral animal control and weed management.
Victoria River District Conservation Association
This progressive landcare group manages 116,330 km2 of tropical and sub-tropical savannas and comprises pastoralists, traditional landholders, councils, Department of Defence, Parks and Wildlife and other government representatives and private individuals with an interest in conservation of the Victoria River District. Current activities include fencing of riparian zones and other areas sensitive to erosion and over grazing and feral animal control. There are specific weed management projects to control neem and barleria in the Victoria River catchment and parkinsonia in the Sturt catchment. A study of the purple crowned fairy wren and its cane grass habitat is being undertaken to develop management plans to ensure long-term viability of the species. Videos and “best practice” manuals have been produced on erosion control, weed management and feral animal management. A Rangelands Projects Officer has been appointed to advise and assist landholders in implementing conservation measures and rangeland management workshops are also held.
Yugul Mangi Council
The formation of the Yugul Mangi Rangers has seen the development of a broader interest from the Ngukurr community in nature conservation and natural resource management. The community has recently completed a three year NHT grant that was aimed at revegetating around homelands, reducing late wildfires and fencing off riparian corridors to reduce the impact of cattle on riverbanks and water quality. In the future the community is interested in undertaking broad scale biological inventory surveys to document biodiversity values as well as to use as a tool to use traditional knowledge. The community won a National Landcare Award for its work on revegetating areas around the community with native vegetation in 2000. They are concentrating efforts into developing effective fire management as well as preserving their knowledge through getting landowners back onto their country to revive traditional knowledge and management of landscapes around the community. The community is very interested in getting traditional ecological knowledge taken seriously as part of looking after country.
