Budj Bim Ranger Program

Budj Bim Ranger Programme is a key component of the institutional arrangements for the management and conservation of Budj Bim eco-cultural landscape. The programme is funded by the Australian government (through it’s Indigenous Protected Areas program) and managed through the Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation and employs full-time rangers mentored by Gunditjmara Elders to provide them with traditional and cultural knowledge and support. The Budj Bim Rangers are responsible for the management of the Budj Bim and Tyrendarra Protected Areas. The rangers are responsible for a wide range of management activities including native flora and fauna management, building and maintaining walking tracks, providing guided tours and monitoring.

The Budj Bim rangers have a key role in ensuring the cultural continuity and the ongoing transmission of traditional and contemporary Gunditjmara knowledge and practices across generations

The Indigenous Protected Areas program is funded through the Australian Government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy program and the Budj Bim Ranger Program is implemented by the Gunditjmara in ways that support working on Country as a cultural activity that ensure transmission of knowledge and practice. Without the government funding, the Gunditjmara are not – at present – resourced to manage Country.

  • This management arrangement of Budj Bim Cultural Landscape allows on the ground management approaches to be guided by Gunditjmara Traditional Owners in line with cultural knowledge, traditions and practices.
  • Management and conservation activities conducted by Traditional Owners through the Budj Bim Ranger Programme has led to a high-degree of control and containment of environmental weeds and pest animals; and extensive revegetation of native plant species, including Eucalypt, Acacia, Bursaria and other native trees, shrubs, sedges, groundcovers, herbs and grasses.
  • The rangers are in charge of combating pest plants and animals; revegetation work using native plant species, many of cultural importance, is enhancing the natural and cultural environment.
  • Rangers play a key role in outreach and educational activities through the Visiting Schools Program. The Budj Bim Rangers run this program for school groups. Approximately 50 such visits take place each year (2017).
  • Land management and monitoring activities across the entire Budj Bim Cultural Landscape.