MAIN BRANCH JULY MEETING REPORT.
Our speaker was Renae Boyd, who is the Community Organiser with Partnership for the Outback. Renae has a BSc (Hons) in Conservation Biology from UWA and is currently completing a Masters in Environmental Management through Charles Darwin University.
About twenty years ago, the West Australian government bought five million hectares of specially selected outback stations in the Pilbara, Midwest and Gascoyne, with the intention of putting them into the conservation reserve system. This was done with a positive and visionary goal—to protect the state’s most remarkable landscapes and unique biodiversity for future generations. Since then, however, these properties have been forgotten and neglected. The Create Ranger Parks campaign is a community-driven initiative calling on the government to finish what it started and create a new network of protected parks in outback WA, managed by Indigenous rangers, for all Western Australians to experience and enjoy.
Partnership for the Outback is an alliance of leading not-for-profit organisations working towards better conservation outcomes in the outback regions of WA.
By collaborating with stakeholders and working with partners, Partnership for the Outback seeks to achieve the following:
• To increase long-term protection for the most special natural places in outback WA.
• To secure approaches and enterprises that support people to stay in the outback, managing aspects such as fire, feral animals and weeds to keep it healthy.
• To support new laws and policies which encourage land managers to commit to the long-term protection and restoration of their outback landscapes.
Renae talked about the significance of some of the properties that had been set aside for conservation. At Shark Bay, for example, there is the potential to form a million-hectare corridor by combining Nanga, part of Tamala, part of Nerren Nerren, Muggon and part of Wooleen, with existing reserves. This is in an area which is a botanical transitional zone, has high faunal richness, lake systems and wetlands and supports significant tourism. Other properties include ex-Giralia near Ningaloo with its mangroves and ancient marine fossils, Mooka near the Kennedy Range, properties surrounding Karijini National Park, other Pilbara properties such as Mount Minnie and Meentheena, Lake Mason in the East Murchison, and closer to Perth, Lochada and Karara.
Renae emphasised the advantages of employing Indigenous rangers on these proposed conservation reserves. They are able to regain connection to country and pride in their communities, she said, and are vital to on-ground activities such as fire and weed management, protection of threatened species, tourism management and protection of cultural heritage sites.
What needs to be done? First, the properties need to be declared National Parks, which involves a change in tenure. Then ranger teams and community partnerships need to be formed, visitor facilities built and tourism experiences developed. Also, funding has to be secured for nature protection.
How can we help? A personal letter to the Environment Minister (Mr Dawson) or a meeting with a local MP may be the best way. Renae also suggested that some members of the WA Naturalists may have access to information collated from botanical surveys that have previously been carried out on these properties.
After the talk, there was discussion on what might be the major stumbling block to the government putting these properties into the nature reserve system. Perhaps what is required is public outcry to motivate government and convince Treasury to commit the money?
Mike Gregson