Projects

ENVIRONS KIMBERLEY’S NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

Environs Kimberley works collaboratively with Traditional Owners, Indigenous communities and local naturalists to develop projects that collate knowledge, raise awareness and actively manage the environment to address threats such as fire and weeds.

We also support scientific research and monitoring programs on land and sea, and use our expertise to
provide sound ecological advice to land managers, community, governement agencies and other stakeholders

We are a valued presence in the local community, providing information and resources for Kimberley people and organising and participating in community-based projects and field trips including SKIPA’s, seagrass monitoring and Science Week.

In all our work, we promote environmental awareness and sustainability in our community.

The West Kimberley Nature Project (WKNP) is a successful natural and cultural resource management initiative of Environs Kimberley.  We collaborate widely  with many groups including Indigenous Ranger groups facilitated by the Kimberley Land Council; Bardi Jawi, Nyul Nyul Karajarri,  as well as Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers, Goolarabooloo community and local naturalists; SKIPA, Broome Botanical Society, Roebuck Bay Working Group, and government agencies on a range of activities, including:

• Conserving the threatened monsoon vine thickets and wetlands of the Dampier Peninsula though botanical surveys, fire and weed management, biological monitoring, seed collection and plant propagation, revegetation and feral animal control.
• Development of eco-cultural interpretive signage and access management of tourists in sensitive sites – such as at Eighty Mile Beach and on the Dampier Peninsula.
• Supporting on-ground management, research and management planning to protect threatened species, biological refugia and rare and restricted ecosystems.

The WKNP brings together the complementary disciplines of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and contemporary scientific practice and this collaborative approach is building strong partnerships throughout communities and across agencies in order to make real progress towards conservation management priorities.  For more detail, please click here.

The Society for Kimberley Indigenous Plants and Animals (SKIPA) is a Broome-based group of people passionate about the Kimberley’s plants and animals.  Environs Kimberley supports SKIPA and its projects e.g. assisting with management planning, providing ecological advice and support  for projects, supporting botanical surveys and reporting and planning and organising weekly activities and regular field trips.

Some of SKIPA’s projects include:  growing your own native plants; seed collection & plant propagation; promotion of environmentally friendly gardening practices; botanical surveys and collection of specimens for the WA herbarium; fauna surveys, restoring degraded sites through weeding and revegetation, and generally having enjoying and learning about the beautiful nature of the Kimberley.

Some SKIPA projects have been funded through Caring for our Country and supported by KTI and EK.  See here for more information about SKIPAs, and how you can get involved.

The Broome Community  Seagrass Monitoring Project in  Roebuck Bay is part of a global effort to survey the extent, health and ecological character of seagrass meadows worldwide.  EK co-manages this important monitoring program with the Department of Environment and Conservation.

At various times throughout the year, three seagrass sites within the internationally significant Roebuck Bay are surveyed.  Community volunteers undertake these surveys, and are vital to the ongoing success of this program.  Kylie Weatherall works part-time to deliver this program, which is funded by Coastwest and the Port of Broome.  For more information about seagrass, this monitoring program, and how you can get involved, click here.

PAST PROJECTS

From 2007-2009, EK ran a highly successful community WEED (Weed; Education; Eradication; Delivery) project in conjunction with the Pilbara Community WEED project run through the Department of Environment and Conservation. The focus of WEED was to build awareness in the community about the threat that weeds pose to the environment, and to work with various groups to develop the skills necessary to deliver practical weed eradication outcomes on the ground. To read more about this project, please click here.