Words Bianca Barling-Seden | Photo Andrew Hartwig

In recent years, traditional land and fire management has received widespread recognition, capturing government and private-sector interest.

Instructed by an Awu-Laya Elders fire management project in Cape York in 2004, traditional burning has flourished through the National Indigenous Fire Workshop, a community-led initiative supported by Cape York Natural Resource Management.

The flow-on effects of traditional burning are seen from soil conservation and estuary protection through to reef health.

Words and photo Robyn May

‘Manage landscape and all species benefit’ was just one of the many positive comments made during the feedback session following the 2019 Cape York Indigenous Fire Workshop.

This year’s workshop was held in July at Mary Valley and coincided with the school holidays, so lots
of kids were able to attend and learn an array of traditional fire and land management techniques while spending time on Country. This is critical as these children are the land and sea managers of the future.

Cape York NRM’s Healthy Farming Futures project is supporting a Cape York Wildlife Sanctuary which has so far received over 2,500 mm of rain this wet season, to stabilise the landscape to protect critical habitat.

Cape York NRM hosted a Soils and Weed Solutions Field Day in Cooktown on 29 February.

The hands-on event, aimed at growers and graziers, explored the latest thinking on sustainable solutions to the ongoing challenge of weed and soil management.

The event brought together members of two Cape York agriculture and grazing networks—the Endeavour and Normanby Mixed Farming and Grazing communities.

Cape York NRM, on behalf of far northern landholders, pastoralists, conservationists and carbon project managers, is calling on the Australian and Queensland governments to continue funding the Northern Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website, a critically important, real time fire coordination tool used by land managers across northern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Funding for the site, firenorth.org.au, runs out in June.

Request for ongoing funding of North Australia Fire Information Website (www.firenorth.org.au)

I am writing on behalf of all attendees at the 2019 Cape York Regional Fire Forum, to request your support for the future of the North Australia Fire Information (NAFI) website. Nearly 100 participants at the Forum, representing Indigenous land managers, pastoralists, conservation managers, carbon industry and agency staff, unanimously voted to request that the Queensland and Australian Governments provide funding to ensure that this vital service continues.

While unprecedented fires ravage southern Australia, leaders in fire management came together in Cooktown to further their work in managing fire across northern Australia for grazing, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emission reduction and cultural outcomes.

The Cape York Fire Forum, held in Cooktown on 3–4 December, focused on the opportunities and challenges of carbon farming through burning—a process where Australian Carbon Credit units are produced by preventing or reducing greenhouse emissions through planned early dry season burning practices.

Thanks to funding from a combination of programs, Andrew Hartwig from Cape York NRM recently coordinated aerial burning across a number of Cape York properties.

The early burns were designed to reduce fuel loads and connect fire breaks on a landscape-wide scale, and were carried out by Cape York NRM in partnership with South Cape York Catchments and Cape York Weeds and Feral Animals Inc.

Recently, grade 12 student Ella Hartwig took on a volunteer position with Cape York NRM to help deliver a coordinated burn project on Cape York. Here’s her record of her experience. Ella’s dad Andrew, known to us all as Andy, is Cape York NRM’s Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF). Andy coordinated the multi-property early burning program in partnership with South Cape York Catchments and Cape York Weeds and Feral Animals Inc.

2019–2020 has been a big year for the Biodiversity and Fire Program. After a number of staff changes, the team now consists of Biodiversity and Fire Program Manager Kerri Woodcock who is based in Cairns, and Biodiversity Officer Dr Helen Penrose, and Community Engagement Officer Joey Dix who are both based in Cooktown.

It’s been a busy time since the last edition of the Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter. The relaxed COVID- 19 travel restrictions and dry season weather has meant that we’ve been busy out on ground making up for lost time in delivery of projects. We’re continuing to respond to the challenges that COVID-19 has created, and with extra safety in place we’ve managed to get projects underway. Although it’s only September, it feels like the race to the end of the year has begun.

Land managers from northern Cape York, in a vast area spanning from the western to the eastern coast, came together in July this year to plan a coordinated burn in order to reduce the risk of wildfires. This collaborative project brought together land managers from across the Embley, Mission, Wenlock, Olive and Pascoe catchments.

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2021. Some people will be glad to see the back of 2020, but there were many good things to come out of the previous 12 months. During 2020 Cape York NRM was able to restructure its operations and program support so that we are able to deliver the best on ground projects possible and we have an incredibly busy year planned for 2021. We welcome four new staff to the team and the Cooktown office is now bursting at the seams.

The North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium will be held on 16-17 February 2021 at the Cairns Colonial Club.

The objective of the Symposium is to increase knowledge exchange and collaboration between organisations and individuals working to conserve threatened species and ecological communities in Northern Queensland.

The symposium will include presentations from the Threatened Species Recovery Hub researchers, and will include workshops focussing on threatening processes that impact the threatened species in our region.

The Communities and coastal habitats of eastern Cape York will benefit from the Australian Government’s Reef Trust funded, Catchments to Coral program. Running from 2021–2023, the project will invest in a broad range of activities that focus on improving the health and resilience of eastern Cape York catchments and coastal ecosystems.

Wetlands on Cape York are very important because they are a filter for water flowing from land to the Great Barrier Reef, they are a refuge and a breeding ground for many different animal species, and also home to many aquatic species, both plants and animals. Some threats to coastal wetlands are feral animals, erosion, pollution, fire, and loss of oxygen in the water from aquatic weeds. Along with the threats comes the problems or issues caused, such as a decrease in native animal and plant species and a decline in water quality.

The Healthy Farming Futures (HFF) program has seen the completion of the 2021 coordinated aerial burning program, and the feral animal control program.

Staff, Andrew and Nat, have visited properties across the Holroyd Plain region, undertaking property planning, discussing project opportunities, updating mapping, and checking in on what’s happening on-ground.

In June and July, the HFF program supported the Cape York coordinated early season burning program, covering 23 properties from as far north as Wolverton Station, to Bonny Glen, south of Cooktown.