Kuku Yalanji to rekindle cultural-burning regime
Land management
A Far North Queensland Indigenous group is reviving cultural burning practises in the Douglas Shire region.
Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation and the Wet Tropics Management Authority have been working on a new plan to start burning off sections of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Country on Aboriginal freehold land and the neighbouring jointly managed national parks.
Eastern Kuku Yalanji people used cultural burning to help maintain the health of the land for thousands of years prior to the area being colonised, according to the WTMA.
“This project will restore those practices by combining Traditional Owner knowledge with contemporary fire science and emergency management systems,” the WTMA states.
“The plan will reduce bushfire risk around proposed on-Country housing, restore fire-dependent ecosystems, strengthen biodiversity, and support long-term cultural stewardship.”
Rangers will be trained in burning-off techniques as part of the plan.
Jabalbina and the WTMA aim to get the project - to be called Return to Country Bama on Bubu - up and running by next year.
