A project to learn how cultural fire management practises can protect and conserve biodiversity in the Sandy Deserts has received more than $1 million in Lotterywest grant funding.
The Lotterywest grant was presented to Environs Kimberley last week by Environment Minister Reece Whitby for a project titled ‘Towards the Fire and Sandy Deserts Project: Strengthening traditional fire management to protect and conserve biodiversity’.
The three-year project will engage six ranger groups across the Great and Little Sandy Deserts – Ngurrara, Paruku, Ngururrpa, Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa, Nyangumarta and Karajarri.
Through the project, Environs Kimberley aims to reduce the impact of high intensity bushfire on biodiversity and monitor the impact of desert biodiversity through fire management that is supported by science, operational evidence, cultural knowledge and weather information.
As stated by Environment Minister Reece Whitby:
“There is little doubt that high intensity bushfires have an impact on the ecologically and culturally rich biodiversity of the Sandy Deserts.
“Unmanaged fire can have significant socio-economic impacts on Aboriginal people, their communities, and their spiritual connection to country and culture.
“This project will help collate and document cultural knowledge to support Traditional Owners to manage landscape scale fire on their lands.
“Enhancing our knowledge of cultural fire practises, and how these principles can help guide the use of fire in the context of today’s landscapes is important for Traditional Owner groups, and I look forward to hearing the results of this project.”
