Nine new Aboriginal Rangers will soon be on the ground in the Queensland Murray-Darling Basin, helping land managers protect the environment and combat pest and weed threats.
The Queensland Murray-Darling Committee (QMDC), in partnership with the Federal Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, has instigated a long-term program to employ nine Aboriginal Rangers and a coordinator to deliver environmental outcomes as part of the Working on Country Regional program.
QMDC Aboriginal Program Regional Coordinator Tim Knox said the Rangers would carry out a range of natural resource management activities such as the protection of riverine areas, feral animal control and threatened species management.
“These Rangers will work with land managers, regional councils, communities and Traditional Owners to promote Landcare works and protect areas of national environmental and cultural significance within the region,” Mr Knox said.
“These works will all help in implementing QMDC’s Regional Natural Resource Management Plan, a document that helps coordinate on-ground works across the Basin for the best possible outcomes.”
Mr Knox said along with the focus on on-ground works, the Rangers themselves would undertake a Certificate IV in Conservation Land Management.
“This is all part of QMDC’s role to boost the viability of regional communities, in this case by providing these Rangers with key skills that can be applied to any role they take on in future,” he said.
“This announcement is also an exciting one for QMDC as we work to build on our own ‘Caring for Country’ plan, developed in conjunction with the eight Traditional Owner groups in the region.
“The Caring for Country plan recognises the need to protect important cultural, ecological, social and economic values within the region and QMDC believes the addition of these on-the-ground positions will be vital to that work.
“Traditional Owners, landholders, communities, government agencies, community organisations and a range of other stakeholders all have a part to play in protecting the region’s assets; securing funding for these Rangers is just one way QMDC is ensuring we can all work together effectively.”
The Ranger program with QMDC is one of a range of Working on Country Regional projects running across Australia. The Australian Government is funding these projects nationally to employ Indigenous rangers to manage land and sea country across a variety of tenures, in partnership with management agencies, non-government organisations and private landholders.
The Queensland Murray-Darling Committee is a natural resource management organisation that supports communities within the Queensland Murray-Darling Basin to sustainably manage their natural resources. Visit www.qmdc.org.au for more information.
8 September 2009
