Cultural burn in Arakwal National Park to restore the Byron Bay Graminoid Clay Heath
DPIE
COMMIT TO IMPLEMENT AGREED ACTIONS THE ‘RIGHT’ WAY AND EVALUATE THE IMPACT
The Arakwal people and NPWS staff committed to work together to implement the agreed actions. NPWS included actions in the annual operations plan and worked with Arakwal people to create opportunities for them to connect with the orchid and its heath habitat. They recognised this as an important part of maintaining and strengthening the cultural values. Before this project, the heath had not been burned for 30 years due to the difficulty of getting approval for a cultural burn of bushland next to a suburban area. Even though the cultural burn required a lot of resources, NPWS prepared and approved a burn plan and Arakwal people undertook cultural activities such as seed collection ahead of the fire. Fortunately, in 2018 all the conditions were suitable for a small cultural burn. The health of the heath has been surveyed by Arakwal NPWS staff post fire with additional sightings of Byron Bay orchid have been reported.
As a result of this project a seasonal planning calendar which highlights how management actions are scheduled through year, factoring in seasons, opportunities, weather and traditional practices was co-created. The calendar brings together culture, ecology and management actions in an easy to understand form that is both a communication and a scheduling tool.
Arakwal people and NPWS worked together to prioritise and undertake both cultural and ecological management activities with relatively small amounts of additional funding. Arakwal people were not constrained in what the money could be spent on as long as it was to support implementation which meant that cultural activities and bringing community members on Country could occur.
Everyone involved in the project realised the importance of celebrating success as a way to inspire the whole team and to realise the value of monitoring. Celebrating success led to people looking for ways to improve and to look to the future and new opportunities.
By using a new method to review priority actions through a cultural lens, the Arakwal NP Plan of Management was examined anew which refocussed management actions to protect and restore the cultural and ecological health of the clay heath.