25 – Threatened species monitoring on Aboriginal land^329monitoring can be the best way of building a shared understanding of the relative
impacts of threatening processes and local population dynamics because the strong
connection that people have with animals and plants through resource use provides
much of the impetus for caring for country (Buchanan and May 2012). For example,
two of the most avid hunters in central Australia have become local champions for
the great desert skink after engaging in a monitoring program that documented the
skink’s vulnerability to cat predation and unmanaged fire. Occasional consumption
of great desert skinks (outside a designated protection zone) ensures a continued
connection with the species which the expert hunters now actively protect with
regular cat control and fire management.
Future directions
This chapter advocates that Indigenous peoples should either be directly involved,
or be joint partners, in all threatened species monitoring that occurs on Indigenous
owned and managed lands. Ideally, threatened species monitoring projects should
involve Indigenous participants in all stages of the project from conceptualisation
and design to the stages of implementation, interpretation, evaluation and
dissemination, with scientists assisting where needed (Ens et al. 2012).
The division of effort between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners and
the monitoring methods adopted, will differ according to the interest, capacity and
funding available to the different parties. For some communities, it may be a
priority to employ survey techniques that build on Indigenous skills (such as
tracking), and can incorporate inter-generational learning, hunting trips or visits
to cultural sites. However, for others, projects that provide opportunities to learn
new skills and technologies (such as trapping and handling, use of remote cameras,
computers, global positioning systems and drones), may be more appealing,
particularly for young people. If needed, Indigenous and non-Indigenous methods
could be compared or cross-validated to direct the final methodology (Gratani et
al. 2011). For instance, DNA analysis of bilby scats has been used to validate site
abundance data provided by expert Indigenous trackers (Fig. 25.3). Conversely,
local expertise has revealed the presence of bilbies in areas where densities were too
low for populations to be detected during systematic track plot surveys (R.
Paltridge, unpublished).
In remote areas of Australia, where Ranger programs are still evolving, there
usually remains a need for support from non-Indigenous collaborators to help
facilitate collection of sufficiently robust data to detect long-term trends and
suggest causal effects for the decline of threatened species. Respectful, bottom-up,
collaborative approaches that incorporate local skills and interests can assist
Indigenous Rangers meet the needs of external funding requirements and national
conservation objectives (Ens et al. 2012). We need to continue to explore two-way
approaches where non-Indigenous views and methods do not dominate but are