‘People maps’ roll out
TWENTY Wet Tropics traditional owner groups from the Daintree to Ingham and west to Mt Garnet, including more than 100 clan and family groupings, will be more accessible than ever thanks to interactive mapping.
A new stage of the Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country is being rolled out and will provide traditional owner contact details.
Terrain NRM board indigenous director Allison Halliday said many traditional owners had strong and enduring connections to country and were actively involved in managing their traditional land and sea country.
“Working with traditional owners brings enormous benefits to natural resource management and also recognises and respects the significant contribution Aboriginal people make to the management of the cultural and natural resources of the region,’’ she said.
“Groups are becoming more and more active in caring for country, working with government organisations and off their own backs in everything from interpretative signs and cultural tourism to monitoring turtle nests, fire management and biosecurity work.”
The new mapping portal was created by Terrain NRM in response to public consultation while developing the Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country.
This unearthed many people’s uncertainties about how to contact traditional owner groups and who to contact.
Terrain NRM’s Bronwyn Robertson said it was the first time the whole range of recognised and registered information had been brought together in one place.
“We are encouraging everyone – from community groups and corporations to Local and State Government – to use the portal when they are planning projects so they can find out who the relevant traditional owner groups are and open up lines of communication with them,” she said.
Gunggandji Land and Sea Ranger April Thomas said Gunggandji Rangers had a meaningful and important role to play in protecting the land and sea in the Yarrabah area.
The portal is in draft form at the moment and people can give us feedback by emailing nrmplan@terrain.org.au