Work with a Tasmanian track building crew on the Larapinta Trail has led to an invitation for the Tjuwanpa Rangers to travel to the island state to see how things are done there.
Members of the ranger group based near Hermannsburg helped the Tasmanian track builder John Hughes repair and realign the Larapinta Trail earlier this year. He’s known as an expert in his field and has since invited the rangers to gain more experience in Tasmania.
It’s hoped such training will allow the rangers to play key roles in the ongoing maintenance and building of the Larapinta Trail. The rangers will also share fire management experience, with particular interest in crown fires, while in Tasmania.
They’ll share their own experiences though with fledgling ranger groups in the forests of the Murray River in southern New South Wales. Aboriginal groups there are also embarking on joint management arrangements for parks in their region.
Their hosts will be able to provide the Tjuwanpa Rangers with advice on how to best protect river catchments, which is an issue in Central Australia. The tour will also involve meeting with the Indigenous Land Corporation in Adelaide and an inspection of one of its grazing properties in Tasmania, which has a park on its border similar to Aboriginal land at Hermannsburg. Rangers chosen for the tour will be able to bring skills back with them to CLC ranger groups in Central Australia.
Senior ranger Steven Booth played a key role over a six week period working with the Tasmanian track crew on the Larapinta Trail. He assisted with repair and maintenance of the track and gained a better understanding of water-related erosion. He said that experience gave him an idea of how important initial construction of a walking track can be.
“Mostly that mob from Tasmania were showing us how and we thought go to them and learn a bit more. I think they know a bit more about the trail work thing,” Mr Booth said. He also said the other rangers going on the trip are looking forward to it with great anticipation.
“They’re pretty excited. This will be my first time to leave the Territory. I didn’t want to leave the Territory, but work-wise, I’ll go. Hoping to learn more (about waterways management in the Barmah Forest).
“See how they manage their waterways. Keep it all healthy. It’s a bit bad up here. We’ve got a big mob of prickly pear, those pine trees, land erosion and things like that.”
Both Tasmania and Central Australia have similarities in that they have extremes in climate and terrain and pressures on fragile ecosystems, making the management of fire, catchments and trails a difficult task. Although Central Australia is a desert environment, when it rains, those falls can be extremely high.
Tasmania’s falls are often high, making it an ideal location to learn how to deal with such flows.
“This trip is an outstanding opportunity for the Tjuwanpa Rangers to build up their knowledge and experience in fields they’ll be using more often in Central Australia as time goes on,” CLC director David Ross said.
“It’s not just on Aboriginal land that these skills will be used,” he said. “The joint management of parks in Central Australia and the possibility of outside contracts mean this will be a most useful exercise.”
Cost of the trip has been reduced greatly by the use of a World Expeditions minibus, which the rangers will relocate from Alice Springs to Tasmania free of charge.
The ranger program receives funding support from the Department of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts, the Indigenous Land Corporation, the NT Government and Aboriginals Benefit Account.
