By Mariangela Lanza, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions WA, Parks and Wildlife Service, Rona Charles, Wilinggin Aboriginal Corporation, and Azarnia Malay, Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions Kimberley Region have steadily increased engagement with traditional owners who have native title rights throughout the Kimberley over the last decade.  Much of this has been focussed on formal joint management and vesting of existing and new areas of conservation estate. Maintenance of relationships that exist between native title holders and their representative Prescribed Bodies Corporate and the department is essential to establishing and maintaining best practice fire management.

DBCA Kimberley staff have built close personal and professional relationships through good communication, joint fire planning  and shared on country prescribed burning with elders and aboriginal rangers, particularly with those aboriginal corporations with native title rights or interests.  This has included engagement that covers the conservation estate within Prince Regent (Dambimangari, Wilinggin), Drysdale River (Balanggarra and Wilinggin) and Mirima National Parks (Miriwoong Gajerrong) and adjacent areas.

This paper outlines the history of these relationships in the context of fire management, the process to overcome existing stereotypes of government prescribed burning practices and the successful establishment of remote area cultural burning for site protection in partnership with Dambimangari, Wilinggin, Balanggarra and Miriwoong Gajerrong across DBCA tenure in very remote and inaccessible fire project areas that hold incredible and globally important cultural heritage and environmental values.

Given the importance of these sites and the need to ensure fire management activities are not impacting cultural values DBCA, in partnership with traditional owners now record and monitor cultural heritage values to assess if there are changes through time.

The development of trust between department staff and traditional owners and annual maintenance of recorded art sites using rotary wing aircraft, manual clearing and careful cultural burning undertaken in the Kimberley can be used as an example for agencies across Australia to develop and implement important programs alongside traditional owners.