Wild river rangers
What is a wild river ranger?
The Queensland Government has 20 Aboriginal rangers in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria working to protect and promote the world-class natural values of Queensland's wild rivers.
To be declared a wild river, the river system must have all, or almost all, of its natural values intact, be virtually untouched and in near-natural condition.
The wild river rangers program aims to maximise the benefits of wild rivers for local communities by encouraging economic development based on ecosystem services.
The rangers' role
The rangers are employed full-time in:
- Pormpuraaw (Coleman & Holroyd Rivers)
- Kowanyama (Coleman River)
- Mapoon (Ducie & Wenlock Rivers)
- Doomagee and Burketown (Settlement & Gregory Rivers)
- Chuulangun (Wenlock & Pascoe Rivers)
- Normanton (Morning Inlet & Staaten River).
Map: Wild river ranger areas
Wild river rangers work with landholders, communities, and traditional owners to protect and promote the wild rivers' systems in the Gulf and Cape.
The rangers ensure that the unique ecologies of wild rivers are better managed and preserved by:
- managing weeds, feral animals, fire, and other threats to river systems
- collecting photographs of, and data on, local species and habitats
- recording traditional stories
- managing visitor activities.
As locals, the rangers have close links with the traditional owners of the country they care for. They work with the elders and a range of agencies to preseve key wetlands and ecosystems of high biodiversity or cultural significance.
The ranger groups share their knowledge by comparing land management practices. In this way, the rangers will learn from each other and pass their skills onto the communities' younger generations.
Queensland Government support
Staff from the Department of Natural Resources and Water (NRW) directly assist with the rangers to develop their business systems and undertake fieldwork.
The wild river rangers program is part of the Looking After Country Together framework, a whole-of-government policy aimed at improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander involvement in managing land and sea country.
The wild river rangers program is managed by NRW with funding provided by the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations.
Queensland's wild rivers
For more information on Queensland's wild rivers visit the NRW website
or download the Wild River Rangers brochure (PDF, 434 kB)*
*requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
Last updated 08 May 2009