Shining Light on the Turquoise Coast

Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 Shining Light on the Turquoise Coast
This autumn Tending the Tracks Alliance (TTTa) held a very special event at Wedge Island and environs – the Turquoise Coast, Cultural and Environmental Experience.

This event combined two half day experiences that delighted the 25 plus 4WD enthusiasts with a shared passion for conservation.

One of the experiences was the Aboriginal Cultural Experience, here the team from Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporation (KMAC) – the Yued Traditional Owners of the Wedge Island area – provided a cultural tour of the Wedge Island, including local Aboriginal sites.

Yued Elder Charlie Shaw, supported by young Aboriginal Ranger Caleb Shaw opened the event with a moving Welcome to Country. They were then joined by fellow Rangers Jordan Jackamarra, Chris Shaw and Jason Shaw, as the participants were introduced to the Dreaming Stories and Aboriginal history around Wedge.

The second experience was the Environmental Experience, here ecologist Dr Nic Dunlop and zoologist Kady Grosser providing a guide through the geomorphology, vegetation, fauna and environmental history of the Turquoise Coast. From the peaks of the mobile sand dunes the participants were rewarded with a panoramic outlook over Wedge and the surrounding coastline.

Event organiser Alison Goundrey said the Saturday lunch was a bush food spectacular cooked up by Margaret Drayton and friends, and the pre-lunch talk explaining food and ingredients intrigued everyone.

Alison added “The awe -inspiring program continued into Sunday providing more opportunity for learning and understanding. Special thanks are due to Annie Shaw from KMAC, without her efforts this weekend could not have come together.”

Biodiversity Program Coordinator Jessica Stingemore attended the weekend and said it was wonderful to see NACC’s Midwest Aboriginal Rangers involved in this community awareness event.

“It was also great to meet so many new faces and being able to camp overnight in Cervantes – the communal BBQ in the park provided some stimulating feedback about day one and was accompanied by the right amount of relaxed socialising.”

More about the TTTa
The TTTa has on-ground work projects focussed along the Northern Agricultural Region coastal zone. Collaborating with local community, Shires of Dandaragan, Coorow and the DBCA, TTTa coordinates a mobile workforce of off road vehicle users to assist with coastal stabilisation, track maintenance and rationalisation, fencing, bollarding, spiny rush removal. In this way TTTa represents a model of community- based management, potentially a new approach to land care, which could be applied by regions across the state.

TTTa contacts: Community Coordinator Alison Goundrey tttalliance@ccwa.org.au

4WD Coordinator Judith Brinkley tttalliance2@ccwa.org.au

https://www.facebook.com/tendingthetracksalliance

Tending the Tracks is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State Natural Resource Management Program.

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In 2020-21 I talked about ‘raising the bar’. In 2021-22 we worked on setting the bar on fire. Over the last 12 months, the team at NACC NRM has not stopped.

The Sustainable Agriculture team has extended the program’s reach through collaborations with grower groups in the regions. Specifically, the Beyond Reasonable Drought project and Grower Group Alliance – South West WA Drought Innovation Hub – Geraldton Node project. The Beyond Reasonable Drought partnership with grower groups supported farmers across the region to improve the environmental sustainability of their agricultural production and drought resilience. The outcomes of this project have been consolidated through our successful Expression of Interest to the South West WA Drought Innovation Hub, with support from grower groups across the region, to host the Geraldton Node of the Hub. The program continues to focus on working with agricultural networks to share technical expertise and provide opportunities that will improve land management practices in agriculture across the region.

The conservation outcomes of ranger teams have expanded through work on several land tenures. Maintaining Heritage sites such as Willi Gulli, Racecourse Paddock and Buller River has long been a priority. During 2021-22, the teams have increasingly focused on threatened species and ecosystems.

To this end, Western Mulga rangers have improved management across 19,000 ha for the conservation of Malleefowl through firebreak and access management. They completed the maintenance of water holes and supported the monitoring of over 90 Malleefowl mounds.

Similarly, the Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporate ranger team have contributed positively to Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo populations by installing artificial hollows and habitat restoration.

All ranger teams have collected native seed, propagated native plants for restoration, and planted native vegetation in key locations across the NAR. Seed collection provides valuable industry experience and has facilitated the planting of over 100,000 seedlings during the year.   

In September 2021, the NACC NRM team delivered the WA Threatened Species Forum, held in tandem with the National Malleefowl Forum. Given the impact of COVID and the timing of this event, having more than 100 delegates from all over Australia was a significant achievement. The two Forums brought together 12 events over five days and featured 14 local artists, 25 businesses and 36 youth participants.

Following the successful relaunch of our updated NARvis, NACC NRM was invited to help lead a significant piece of strategic planning work for the region with Mid West Development Commission and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. With funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the consortia delivered a Regional Drought Resilience Plan covering the shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley and the City of Greater Geraldton, along with significant technical analysis of drought vulnerability for the South West land division. The development of this plan also included extensive community consultation to ensure that local knowledge and technical advice guided the development of priorities for action.

This planning work links to existing NACC NRM on-ground projects, including Beyond Reasonable Drought and the Chapman Catchment Collaborative regeneration project.

It was a busy year for events with face-to-face events becoming commonplace again. During 2021-22 we hosted events in Gingin, Moora, Dalwallinu, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Walkaway, Nabawa, Perenjori, Kalannie and Morawa. We supported events in Karakin, Thundellara, Perenjori, Paynes Find, Wubin, Cataby, Warradarge, Northampton, Yuna, Dalwallinu and Dandaragan.

We also supported on-ground works throughout the region, including at the following locations Yuna, Dalwallinu, Dandaragan, Merkanooka, Goodlands, Kalannie, Bunjil, Yardarino, Canna, Kondut, Latham, Kadathinni, Nabawa, Red Gully, Sandy Gully, Waddy Forrest, Devils Creek, Perenjori, Bowgada, Ellendale, Wandana, Namban, Hill River, Warradarge, Gillingarra, Regans Ford and Moonyanooka.

Our region is vast – slightly larger than Tasmania, which for comparison, is serviced by three separate NRM organisations. Covering the NAR region and its many environmental threats is challenging. We continue to focus on partnerships and collaboration to address this challenge. We know that by working with our community through passionate delivery of collaborative on-ground projects and education, the community will value and actively protect our region’s natural capital.

This year we have launched a new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP Working Group consulted widely and developed an Innovate RAP which Reconciliation Australia approved in March 2022. The activities to fulfil these commitments are now in full swing.

Sadly, at the end of 2021, we farewelled former NACC NRM CEO Shelley Spriggs, who lost a long battle with cancer. Shelley was an inaugural inductee to the NRM Leadership Honour Roll. I will always be grateful for her guidance and no-nonsense approach, not to mention her passion for life.

While we have said farewell to some, we have welcomed many new faces across all programs, including our Administration team. We have also hosted a school-based trainee from Nagle Catholic College who has been working towards a Certificate II in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. This trial position has been very successful, and we look forward to making this opportunity available again in 2023.

During 2022 we have taken on new projects that align with our organisational and program objectives, and we have successfully completed some great initiatives that support continued conservation and sustainability outcomes. I want to thank the whole team who continue to go above and beyond for the organisation and each other proving their ongoing commitment to our purpose and our values.