Another week in Arnhem Land

[SteveNT]

I was at Ramingining this week. The Rangers there are an excellent mix of youth and experience with ages ranging from 19 to 71.

Some pics of the drive to Ramo.

1 Cahills Crossing downstream (a local fisherman had his head pulled off by a saltie here)2 Kakadu burning. Kakadu is the only part of the Top End that is burnt every year, terrible fire management. 3 Oenpelli flood plains 4 It might be the middle of the Dry but the road is still a challenge 5 This used to be dense woodland but Cyclone Monica (Cat 5) stripped it bare. 6 years later there is not a lot of recovery. 6 Monica bent these sand palms too. 7 Liverpool River, I had water half way up the windscreen crossing this one (and the Cadell and Blythe Rivers also) No bridges in this part of the world. 8 As the creeks dry up it is a feast for the birds.

These guys are totally committed to managing their country using traditional and modern methods. This week we were doing chainsaws. A very necessary skill after the cyclone season. These flowers appeared only 3 days after the fire went through.

A few more pics

Finally I arrive home to find young Ess hanging out in his stubbie holder during an enclosure rebuild. Typical Darwin habitat

 

[Magpie]

Hey Steve, great pics and commentary.
There are areas out around Borroloola that get burnt every year, sometimes more than once in a year. That's not management though.

 

[jahan]

You have the best job in the world Steve.

 

[Wild~Touch]

The thing I love more about your threads Steve is your attitude
Thank you for sharing
Cheers
Sandee

 

[SteveNT]

Hey Steve, great pics and commentary.
There are areas out around Borroloola that get burnt every year, sometimes more than once in a year. That's not management though.

Yea, most areas along roads get burnt every year but only Kakadu burns everything- woodland, stone country, floodplains, etc every year. It's rediculous. They have access to the same fire scar maps we do and info on how often different areas should be burnt but every year the whole place goes up in smoke.

The thing I love more about your threads Steve is your attitude
Thank you for sharing
Cheers
Sandee

Thanks Sandee. How could you have a bad attitude travelling through this country and working with these excellent people? I'm pretty much in heaven most of the time. Then I return to my Unit in the main street of Darwin and get some balance ha ha!

 

[moussaka]

Great photos! Makes me want to go visit NT again...I haven't been since I was a kid.

Shame about the dodgy fire management.

 

[SteveNT]

On the subject of fires, it may look terribly destructive but these sand palms and cycads (as do all the open woodland plants) respond with beautiful flushes of new growth immediately. This big one would be many centuries old.

 

[mmafan555]

Would love to get out their one day....Looks like a truly wild place.

 

[jedi_339]

I noticed all the fires burning on the plane up yesterday.

It's a shame it's not managed more effectively.

Fantastic pictures I really wish I could get up there soon, shame work is so busy and the hire car has a daily limit :s

 

[cement]

Wow!!

Thanks for sharing Steve.

Are you a Landcruiser man?

 

[SteveNT]

I noticed all the fires burning on the plane up yesterday.

It's a shame it's not managed more effectively.

Fantastic pictures I really wish I could get up there soon, shame work is so busy and the hire car has a daily limit :s

Thanks Jedi. Actually fire is managed very very well in Arnhem Land. (Kakadu not so good).

 

[imported_Varanus]

Yea, most areas along roads get burnt every year but only Kakadu burns everything- woodland, stone country, floodplains, etc every year. It's rediculous. They have access to the same fire scar maps we do and info on how often different areas should be burnt but every year the whole place goes up in smoke.

Do the local TO's have any say in what happens with Kakadu's fire regimes or is the knowledge lost, Steve? Lack of species diversity I'd imagine would indicate that there's a problem, at least to the local indig.

 

[SteveNT]

Wow!!

Thanks for sharing Steve.

Are you a Landcruiser man?

For work I usually drive a Troopie or a Cruiser ute. This trip however they gave me a crap mitsubishi triton with no snorkel and no bullbar. The "aerodynamic" bonnet design simply sends all the water straight onto the windsrceen so you are effectively blind as soon as you hit the water and there is no beneficial bow wave at the front. I've told them the vehicle is totally unsuited to remote work. Had fun dodging the buffalo on the track between Ramingining and the Central Arnhem Rd. (170km) at 5 in the morning with no bull bar!

My personal vehicle is 94 Jeep Cherokee (suitably modified). She looks rough but never fails to get us in and out of some wild places. Light weight is great for mud or sand, short length avoids hang ups in tight gullies and the 4 ltr motor means you fly up those hill climbs. It's probably coming to the end of its useful life but I really dont like what's on the market these days. Tinny toy cars. I will probably get a 100 series Cruiser next.

Do the local TO's have any say in what happens with Kakadu's fire regimes or is the knowledge lost, Steve? Lack of species diversity I'd imagine would indicate that there's a problem, at least to the local indig.

There is input from the TOs but the Park is managed from Canberra and the Rangers are really there for tourist monitoring and rubbish bin emptying. Having a Uranium mine and a town full people (mostly Mexicans) smack bang in the middle of the Park doesn't help. And the tourists dont mind throwing a few matches in either.

Arnhem Land however has a strict permit system so the yobbos cant access much of it.

 

[imported_Varanus]

View attachment 259805

Having a Uranium mine and a town full people (mostly Mexicans) smack bang in the middle of the Park doesn't help. And the tourists dont mind throwing a few matches in either.

So much for World Heritage Listing! Here's hoping "no name creek" stays off the radar for a while longer.

 

[SteveNT]

"So much for World Heritage Listing! Here's hoping "no name creek" stays off the radar for a while longer."

WH listing doesnt mean much at the real world end of the process. Just bragging rights. Look what's happening to the GBR. The mongrels dont give a FF as long as their wallets get fat. To my dying day I will fight the bastards who will kill country for a few cheesy dollars.

 

[imported_Varanus]

Reminds me of my old mother-in-law. If they ever try and dam the Fitzroy River, she's vowed to "burn Broome to the ground"! And she really hates the "uptown niggers" that run the Kimberley Land Council (sell out bastards). Pity she's in her 70's.

 

[happynagini]

hey steve just wondering what is your job? and can you explain to me more the fire management thing? i have no idea whats going on but im interested haha. beautiful pictures, would love to head up north for a holiday.

 

[SteveNT]

I am the Training Manager for the Northern Land Council so basically I arrange training for 20+ Indigenous Ranger groups across the Top End and any other staff who need it.

The fire management process is very complicated. We have huge meetings with Traditional Owners, Pastoralists, Govt departments etc. By looking at fire scar maps for the last 15 years (derived from sattelite imagery) we can see exactly what has been burnt when. Combined with traditional knowledge we then draw up a plan for what needs to be burnt and what needs to be protected. (stone country for example should be burnt no more often than every 12 years, monsoon forest should never be burnt however burning the edges of the monsoon forest increases yam production and protects the forest from wild fire.) Then we impliment the plan. A lot of the burning is done from helicopters flying GPS routes and sensetive areas are handled by Rangers who travel on foot for up to 2 weeks carefully burning fire breaks etc when conditions (wind, temperature, humidity) are optimum. By burning early in the year the land produces 1/3 of the carbon that a late fire produces. The fires are cool trickle fires that do almost no damage to the vegetation which is fully adapted to fire and needs it to regenerate. (Many seeds up here wont germinate until they are burnt.)

This has happened anyway for millenia but these days the big mining and gas companies pay for this process to offset their own carbon production. End story, there are millions of tons less carbon in the atmosphere and the money keeps these Rangers in full time employment combatting feral weeds and animals and looking after country. A win/ win situation all round really.

 

[happynagini]

Oh I see, thanks for that Steve haha. Pretty interesting stuff.