The Gidarjil Land Rangers focus their work around the Granite Creek area near Bundaberg in Queensland, which is the ancestral home of the Gurang clan. Part of the area is listed on the Directory of Important Wetlands for Australia.
The area also has a history of timber harvesting and cattle grazing. The Traditional Owners are shifting away from agricultural and forestry activities, towards restoration and protection of natural habitats and cultural heritage.
The Gidarjil Land Rangers have developed a management plan to implement a weeds and pests eradication strategy. Other activities include testing and improving the wetland's water quality; surveying and recording the area’s biodiversity; reestablishing and expanding a protection corridor between two national parks; recovering an endangered eucalypt ecosystem; and reestablishing a traditional knowledge database.
The Gidarjil Sea Rangers undertake work in the Sea Country region of the Port Curtis Coral Coast (PCCC) Traditional Owners - caring for Sea Country in both coastal and marine environments from the Burrum River, north to the area around Agnes Water. They remain connected to their Sea Country in many ways, through many species.
They work to conserve, manage and monitor many threatened species including marine turtles, dugong and cetaceans, participating in collaborative studies with the Queensland Department of Environment and Science to monitor populations of nesting turtles to identify where management intervention is required, and conducting turtle rodeo activities to understand the foraging behaviour of turtles. In addition, the Gidarjil Sea Rangers have been trained to coordinate and respond to marine wildlife rescues and incidents.
They also undertake numerous activities to care for threatened ecological communities connected to their sea country including mangroves, saltmarsh, seagrass and coral reefs - undertaking regular mangrove and seagrass watch surveys, managing weeds in priority coastal and riparian areas, and monitoring the health of in-shore coral reefs.
The Gidarjil Bundaberg Land and Sea Rangers are keen to combine traditional knowledge, practices and lore with western science so they can manage and sustain their Country into the future.
