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Indigenous communities are being encouraged to become more involved in the way natural resources are managed in the Murray Catchment in New South Wales.
Murray Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is running an Indigenous Community Support Project to increase awareness and understanding of Aboriginal cultural values and knowledge and to incorporate them into decision-making.
Funding
The project received more than $123,000 from the Australian and State Governments.
Murray CMA Community and Implementation Team Leader, Helen Wilson, said the CMA wanted to work more closely with Indigenous communities to manage the environment and put activities into action.
Activities
The CMA has appointed two Indigenous staff, including Kaleana Reyland as the Indigenous Community Support Officer.
"Kaleana is a point of communication and contact for local Indigenous communities," said Helen. "She's working with communities to help create opportunities for them to develop and obtain funding for natural resource management projects."
One venture which has emerged from this work is a bush tucker and interpretive trail developed by the Murray Darling Association in collaboration with the Moama Aboriginal Land Council and the Moama Horseshoe Lagoon Project.
Other opportunities being explored include linking Indigenous communities with existing incentive programs to support projects including protecting river and creek banks and wetlands, managing remnant vegetation and replanting projects.
Kaleana sees her role as helping to make cultural heritage protection an integral part of natural resource management. This involves training in some practical land management skills on the part of the Indigenous communities and cultural appreciation on the part of non-Indigenous Australians.
"It's important for the Indigenous people in our region to be trained in areas like managing weeds, seed collection and revegetation processes so that when contracts come up they can have the opportunity to be successful in tendering for them." Kaleana said.
"Eventually it would be good to see TAFE courses established to help Indigenous people get employment in natural resource management.
"From the other perspective, I've done some cultural awareness training for CMA staff. As a result they now understand a bit more about how to communicate with Indigenous communities, value the cultural heritage of our catchment and have some understanding of the traditional role of Indigenous people in caring for the country."
More information
- Kaleana Reyland, Murray CMA Aboriginal Community Support Officer: (02) 6051 2219 or kaleana.reyland@cma.nsw.gov.au
- Helen Wilson, Murray CMA Community and Implementation Team Leader: helen.wilson@cma.nsw.gov.au
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