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The MACAI Green Army Team overlooking the Sugar Shack floodplain and the River Murray
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Green Army supports co-management
The amazing environment and culture of the Mid-Murray is in good hands with the new Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Inc (MACAI) Green Army team.
The team, under the leadership of Isobelle Campbell, began in October 2016 and is already busy training and working on a number of important sites including Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park (working with the co-management board) and Sugar Shack.
At a recent planning workshop, held with the Green Army team and staff of Natural Resources SAMDB and Mid Murray Landcare, a range of activities were identified and scheduled including protecting heritage sites, repairing the board walk at Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park, wetland monitoring, fauna surveys (frogs, birds and bats), tree health monitoring, collecting data for a study on the nationally threatened regent parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus monarchoides), and controlling weeds and feral animals.
The team is employed by Conservation Volunteers Australia with funding from the Australian Government's Green Army Programme.
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New members of the SAMDB NRM Board, Owen Love (left) and Kerry Simcock (right) with Presiding Member Sharon Starick (centre)
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New NRM Board members
Two new members, Owen Love and Kerry Simcock, have been appointed to the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management (SAMDB NRM) Board.
The SAMDB NRM Board plays a vital role in our region, giving communities a strong voice in how our environment is managed for a prosperous economy and ensuring our region is a great place to live, work and relax. It is community-based, made up of local people who understand their communities’ needs and are well placed to help the government and communities work together to manage natural resources across public and private land.
Owen Love was raised on 160 acres belonging to his grandfather on the banks of Lake Alexandrina and his formative years were all about soil, land, plants, animals and water. Having grown up in Wellington, he has a good understanding of the way the entire river system operates: how the wildlife, flora, land, water and community all interconnect and how changes impact on them. Owen runs workshops in schools for students and teachers in the art of storytelling. Communication and sharing stories is critical in understanding and describing the natural world to children who live in the suburbs and are unfamiliar with the larger system.
Kerry Simcock is a self-employed management consultant to a diverse range of regional businesses, local government, community groups and not-for-profit organisations across the region. Living in the Lower Murray region, she has a strong understanding of the community economic development issues across the Murraylands/Riverland and is an active member of her local community.
For more information on the SAMDB NRM Board visit http://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/samurraydarlingbasin/about-us/nrm-board
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Monarto Zoo ALOC
The opportunity to work at a zoo is something that many people dream about and this year it became a reality for four Aboriginal Conservation and Land Management trainees.
2016 was the first of a two year training program for school-based trainees Rossi Thorpe, Brayden Kartinyeri and Shaquille Karpany, and full time trainee Anna Day. Enthusiasm, the desire to succeed and to keep going when things get a tough have been evident with all the Aboriginal Learning on Country (ALOC) trainees over the year. Former ALOC trainees and current Zoos SA employees Leon Dodd (Scornzy), Michael Holland and David Wilson have progressed in their roles to supervise and mentor the trainees on the job.
Highlights for the ALOC team this year include developing skills and experience across a broad range of conservation activities, visiting Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park, participating in the Raukkan fauna survey, turtle monitoring along the River Murray, and working with Monarto Zoo’s team on the conservation of Australian wildlife.
Zoos SA would like to thank the supporters and sponsors who make this program possible – SANTOS and its training partners CEG and ARO, the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board (through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Programme and the NRM levy) and TAFE SA.
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Dr Matt Barwick from the NSW Department of Primary Industries presenting the latest information on the carp herpesvirus project
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First Peoples NRM workshop
A natural resources management workshop for the Riverland Aboriginal community was held in August at the McCormick Centre near Renmark.
The workshop, which was organised by the First Peoples NRM Working Group and Natural Resources SAMDB, was held to update the community on a range of natural resources management topics and projects.
A highlight of the workshop was a presentation by Dr Matt Barwick from the NSW Department of Primary Industries on the carp herpesvirus project. Dr Barwick was invited to South Australia by the First Peoples NRM Working Group in response to community interest and concern about the proposed virus release.
Other excellent presentations focused on threatened species of the Riverland and mallee, the use of 1080 poison for pest control, local pig control work being undertaken by Aboriginal Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) staff, local wetland environmental watering, and groundwater along the River corridor and in the mallee.
Approximately 40 people attended the workshop including members of the First Peoples Working Group, Working on Country Rangers from Calperum Station, the Gerard Country Rangers, a number of DEWNR staff, and other interested community members.
All presentations generated good levels of discussion and excellent feedback was received by those attending. The First Peoples NRM Working Group is planning to hold a similar event in early 2017. For more information, or to suggest topics of interest, contact Chris Koolmatrie, Aboriginal Partnerships Project Officer for Natural Resources SAMDB, on (08) 8580 1800.
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Setting up the pitfall traps on the first day of the Narrung Peninsula fauna survey
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Narrung Peninsula fauna survey
Over the first week of November a range of Aboriginal teams worked together to undertake an intensive fauna survey of the Narrung Peninsula.
Hosted by the Raukkan Working on Country (WOC) and Aboriginal Learning on Country (ALOC) staff, the survey also included members of the Meningie WOC team, the Monarto Zoo ALOC team, and Aboriginal Natural Resources SAMDB staff from the Riverland.
The survey replicated previous studies at the sites dating back as far as the 1980’s and 1990’s, helping to compare fauna changes over time and assisting to monitor and evaluate the biodiversity outcomes of the ALOC and WOC programs. Involvement in the survey also contributed to the participants' formal qualifications in conservation and land management.
The survey used both pitfall traps and Elliott traps and focussed on the large remnant native vegetation areas of Block K, Gum Park and Kartoo.
Interesting finds included a variety of lizards and a western pygmy possum (Cercartetus concinnus) in dense vegetation adjacent to the Coorong.
The survey was a partnership between the Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation, Natural Resources SAMDB, TAFE SA and Biosecurity SA, and was supported with funding from the Australian Government and the SA Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board levy.
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Murray-Darling Basin Aboriginal Nations Workshop
The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) is supporting the Murray-Darling Basin Aboriginal Nations Workshop to be held in Adelaide on 15 and 16 December 2016.
The workshop will bring together Traditional Owners from Aboriginal Nations across the SA Murray-Darling Basin to discuss water and the management of the river systems. DEWNR has been working with SA Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) representatives to develop the event.
The workshop will support Traditional Owners to network and further consider how they want to organise and plan together – to achieve a one river approach that recognises the cultural links and responsibilities between Nations.
The workshop follows on from a gathering hosted by the First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee at Calperum earlier this year where Nations met to talk about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and how Traditional Owners wanted to be engaged. See a short video from the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LOE_s7MZ08&feature=youtu.be
If you would like more information please contact Mr Lachlan Sutherland on 0457 545 584 or lachlan.sutherland@sa.gov.au.
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Working on Country Rangers Jim Harris, William Cook, Kyle Payne and Neil Johnson with one of the pumps being used for environmental watering on Calperum Station
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Environmental watering at Calperum
The Riverland Working on Country (WOC) Rangers have been undertaking environmental watering on Calperum Station in a partnership project between the Australian Landscapes Trust and Nature Foundation SA.
The current watering is taking advantage of the high river flows by pumping water into Woolpolool Swamp, which has not been inundated since the 1970s. This watering will flood over 120 ha of floodplain, providing much needed support for black box woodlands around the swamp as well as providing valuable wetland habitat for waterbirds.
Other sites that were planned to be inundated this year have been put on hold as they cannot be accessed due to the high water levels. Some of these sites will probably not flood and these will be inundated early next year once access is available.
It is also intended to support the sites that do flood, once the flood has receded, by extending their period of inundation to allow wetland vegetation growing in these wetlands to complete their life cycle. This work will start early next year and continue until around June.
The Riverland WOC project is a partnership between the Australian Landscapes Trust and Natural Resources SAMDB, and is supported by the SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board through funding from the Australian Government.
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Turtle time!
It’s that time of the year again when River Murray turtles venture from the water to nest and lay their eggs.
The Monarto Zoo Aboriginal Learning on Country (ALOC) team has been surveying turtles along the River Murray levy banks around Mypolonga. Although many of the nests have been destroyed by foxes, any undisturbed nests found have been protected from these predators with plastic mesh.
The team is recording their turtle data using TurtleSAT, a free citizen science mobile phone app which is helping to build a picture of turtle distribution and population health across Australia.
For more information on turtles and to download the free TurtleSAT app visit https://www.turtlesat.org.au/turtlesat
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DEWNR Cultural Rangers Michael Boon and Glenn Chisolm who started their careers as ALOC trainees
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Working for DEWNR
Glenn Chisolm and Michael Boon have worked for the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) for five years. In that time they have gone from trainees to two of the most valued and respected staff in the region. Here Glenn writes a short article on their time in DEWNR and the range of work they are involved in:
We have worked for DEWNR for 5 years now. We started as ALOC trainees and have worked our way through the department, going from trainees to Construction and Maintenance Workers to District Officers and now Cultural Rangers.
We do a wide range of work including park maintenance, prescribed burning and bushfire response, compliance, heritage protection, pest plant and animal control, and community involvement. We also study and are now close to completing Certificate IV in Indigenous Conservation and Land Management.
For the last three years we have also been involved in a great project monitoring the health of scar trees at Chowilla and other Riverland parks. The data we collect helps to keep track of the health of these trees and assists The Living Murray program with their environmental watering.
Working for DEWNR has been really rewarding and it’s a great feeling knowing that you are looking after the land and the culture. I’d encourage any other young people that are interested to get involved and find out what opportunities are out there.
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Surveying threatened orchids
The sandhill greenhood orchid (Pterostylis arenicola) is a nationally threatened orchid that only occurs at a few locations around Tailem Bend and the Narrung Peninsula in South Australia.
During September and October 2016 staff from the Eastern Hills and Murray Plains Catchment Group and the Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting Murray Bridge Aboriginal Learning on Country (ALOC) team surveyed the orchids at Mowantjie-Willauwar Conservation Park between Tailem Bend and Wellington.
The survey was done over two days and involved learning how to identify the orchids and use a standard methodology including filling out data sheets. The method requires attention to detail, accuracy and patience and great care needs to be taken not to damage the sites. In total 3521 orchids were counted from five known sites and two new sites that were discovered by the ALOC team.
For more information on the sandhill greenhood orchid see the http://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/samurraydarlingbasin
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The Raukkan WOC and ALOC staff at a recent graduation ceremony to celegrate their hard work and success
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Celebrating success!
A range of Aboriginal staff from a number of organisations have recently graduated from their Conservation and Land Management studies.
A ceremony was held in September for the Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation staff of the Raukkan Working on Country (WOC) and Aboriginal Learning on Country (ALOC) teams to celebrate their success.
The graduation saw eight people presented with Diplomas, three people presented with Certificate IV’s and another three presented with Certificate III’s. There was a big turnout for the ceremony, including SAMDB NRM Board member Owen Love and Natural Resources SAMDB Regional Director Rhona Parker-Benton. A great day was had by all and the catering provided by the Raukkan Café was incredible as always.
In October another graduation was held in Mannum where a number of people from Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting, the Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Inc and the Eastern Hills and Murray Plains Catchment Group were presented with their Diplomas in Conservation and Land Management.
These graduations are great recognition of the fantastic work being done to protect this amazing region, and the hard work, dedication and achievements of all involved.
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Environmental Watering Champions
The Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Inc (MACAI) has been named a 2016 Water for Nature Champion for their environmental watering work at Sugar Shack, on the River Murray.
The Champions and the program’s other hard working volunteers help to deliver environmental water to wetlands and floodplains along the River Murray in South Australia as part of the Nature Foundation SA (NFSA) Water for Nature program.
NFSA partners with the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, the largest water holder in the Murray-Darling Basin. This water has been set aside for the environment as a result of the Basin Plan water reform. NFSA helps the Commonwealth and local landholders deliver water to reach environmental objectives in South Australia.
For more information contact Hugo Hopton, NFSA CEO, on 0418 817 664.
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First Peoples NRM Group members Jenni Grace (left) and Frances Day (right) with Natural Resources SAMDB staff Glenn Chisolm and Chris Koolmatrie (centre) at the Riverland Field Days
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Riverland Field Days
The Riverland Field Days are a two day annual event for the Riverland/Mallee region, which were held on the 16th and 17th of September.
This year Natural Resources SAMDB Aboriginal Partnerships staff and Aboriginal District Officers were joined by members of the First Peoples NRM Working Group to showcase local Aboriginal culture and projects. The display focussed on culturally significant scar trees in the Riverland and demonstrations of feather flower making, leis and basket weaving.
The field days attracted around 15,500 people from throughout SA and beyond and almost 6,500 visited the Natural Resources SAMDB marquee where the Aboriginal Partnerships display was located.
This year saw the Natural Resources SAMDB marquee named the winner of the ‘Best Outdoor Exhibit – Large’ award – no doubt in part thanks to the fantastic Aboriginal Partnerships display and the demonstrations by First Peoples NRM Working Group members!
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Aboriginal agriculture and aquaculture
When the first European explorers travelled across Australia what they encountered was far from a hunter-gatherer society. Their records show that Aboriginal people built permanent houses and lived in villages. They selected and domesticated plants. They sowed, irrigated, harvested and stored crops. They set up elaborate and effective aquaculture systems by altering water courses and constructing dams. And they had a system of government across Australia that generated peace and prosperity.
Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu is a fascinating read which brings to light a range of historic evidence showing that Aboriginal people actively and skilfully farmed and managed the Australian landscape to sustainably produce food over many thousands of years.
This book is well worth a read and Bruce Pascoe can be heard being interviewed on the topic at http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2016/02/01/4397892.htm
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