Kabulwarnamyo, and Manmoyi outstations.
Being a ranger is a huge source of pride, espe-
cially for young women, like Narorrga, who oth-
erwise likely would have to leave their traditional
lands for employment in cities and towns.
Money from carbon credits allows rangers to
undertake a variety of land management activi-
ties, including culling feral animals, like the buf-
falo that Narorrga was chasing. From July 2020
to June 2021, Warddeken’s rangers removed 2,336
feral animals, including 1,913 buffalo. The rangers
also eradicate invasive weeds, monitor wildlife,
and protect rock art. Traditional owners make all
the decisions on how to manage the land.
“With the ranger program, you’re making
that traditional knowledge and connection to
country, and the history that surrounds it, valu-
able,” Ansell explains. “By being on country and
being out there and engaged with it, it keeps it
relevant in our modern society.”LEGS CROSSED, FACES UP, eyes wide, a scrum of
schoolchildren sits on a bright blue woven mat
under the shade of a rocky outcrop. It’s midmorn-
ing, and they’ve come by four-wheel drive down
a dirt track from Kabulwarnamyo to Kundjor-
lomdjorlom, where the Warddeken Indigenous
Protected Area was dedicated in 2009. In front
of them, in a rickety camp chair, is 89-year-old
Mary Kolkiwarra Nadjamerrek, senior tradi-
tional knowledge-holder and the late Lofty
Nadjamerrek’s wife. The rock walls are coveredFIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE 91