Kimberley Rangers Building a Roadmap for Healthy Country

Indigenous rangers across the Kimberley are strengthening the way they care for Country, with work carefully planned to align with the priorities of their Prescribed Body Corporates (PBCs) and deliver lasting environmental, cultural and social benefits.

In February, more than 20 rangers and Indigenous land and sea management professionals gathered in Broome for a three-day Healthy Country Planning forum hosted by Our Common Place. The workshop focused on building strong, practical strategies to protect Country now and into the future.

Healthy Country Planning provides a structured way to identify what matters most on Country, understand the threats to keeping it healthy and map out clear, achievable actions. Across the three days, participants explored how to better coordinate efforts in feral animal management, weed control, community awareness, stakeholder relationships and fire management.

For many rangers, the forum reinforced that good planning starts with listening.

Gooniyandi Ranger Coordinator Alden Lands said the workshop deepened his understanding of how to plan in a way that respects culture and community.

“This workshop gave me a good understanding of how to properly plan for Healthy Country — by listening to community and respecting culture. I learned strong tools to set our values, identify threats and turn ideas into real work on Riwi (Country).

It will help us plan Gooniyandi ranger work the right way this year by setting clear goals, prioritising and mapping out our work and keeping culture and voices of community strong.

Hearing other mobs’ stories helped me think clearer about how we can do things better for our people and Riwi. When we work together the right way, we get stronger outcomes for Country.”

By the end of the week, the rangers had developed practical roadmaps outlining how to achieve their goals. The process highlighted the many steps involved in planning, mapping and coordinating work to keep Country healthy; from defining cultural and environmental values, to identifying threats, setting priorities and measuring success.

With clearer strategies in place, rangers are better equipped to track the impact of their work, adapt over time and strengthen outcomes year after year.

Through thoughtful planning grounded in culture and community priorities, Kimberley rangers continue to demonstrate that caring for Country is not only about action on the ground — it is about vision, coordination and working together the right way.