Wetlands are the lifeblood of the Kimberley – places of deep cultural meaning, rich biodiversity, and community connection.

Kimberley Traditional Owners and their ranger teams are dedicated to caring for wetlands, although these wetlands face growing pressures from climate change, weeds, feral animals, and water development. For more than a decade, Environs Kimberley has worked alongside The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Kimberley ranger teams to strengthen Indigenous-led care for these freshwater places.

Nyamba Buru Yawuru Country Managers Vaughn Lee, Cole Corpus, Rebecca Dobbs (UWA), Chase Pigram (sitting), Gaydar Lawford and Lyall Pedro discussing monitoring at Mimyagaman. Photo: Mark Cowan.

We are now expanding this partnership through the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Resilient Landscapes Hub with the Wetland Monitoring and Management Toolkit. The toolkit will be a publicly available guide offering practical tools for planning, doing and reviewing wetland monitoring.

Based on the work of Kimberley ranger teams, the toolkit is founded in three key principles:

• Start with Country priorities – work with ranger teams to use Healthy Country Plans as the foundation for wetland work.
• Make monitoring a full cycle – ask the right questions, choose monitoring tools that fit, and set up systems for managing and using data to feed back into management.
• Weave knowledge systems – consider Indigenous knowledge and Western science as separate, equally valid ways of knowing, that together provide a fuller picture of wetland health.

Jarndu Country Manager Romaniah Hunter at Tharndoo-Ngunjal (Lake Campion) with a poster summarising monitoring and management actions at this place. Photo: Mark Cowan.

Yawuru Case Study

One inspiring example is the Yawuru Environmental Services Unit who run two programs:

• Bilarra (wetland) monitoring, and
• Piezometer monitoring of groundwater across the Yawuru Indigenous Protected Area.

Recently, Yawuru Country Managers worked with EK and UWA to formally review both programs. These reviews helped the Yawuru team reflect on and interpret data using science and Yawuru knowledge, and helped clarify next steps for management. The partnership is also producing Standard Operation Procedures in field-friendly formats to support the Country Managers’ on-going monitoring, along with other support. By combining technical support with Yawuru knowledge, these processes are building skills and confidence for Yawuru to manage and adapt their programs independently into the future.

The Toolkit celebrates stories like this, along with practical, tested tools, strong partnerships, and Indigenous leadership in caring for wetlands. We’d like to acknowledge the Toolkit program supporters including the NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub, and Yawuru project supporters: the WA State Government (Aboriginal Ranger Program) and the WA State Government Natural Resource Management Program.

- Dr Michelle Pyke

This report first appeared as an article in our December 2025 EK News Issue 106.

Earlier this year The Kids Research Institute Australia came to Broome for the third year in a row to host a two-day STEM festival (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Students from Years 3–10 from eight different schools and communities participated in the event, with a variety of displays and experiments. Students could learn about UV radiation and sugary drinks, and have fun making DNA. Local organisations were invited to attend the festival with their own exhibitions, to show our Kimberley kids how much fun a career in science can be. Environs Kimberley staff Kylie Weatherall and Alex Gibson put on a Wetland Wonderland display, with a helping hand from volunteer Kim Frank-Koczwara.

Our own mini wetland. How many species can you spot?

First off, the students were taught about the great diversity of wetlands we have here in the Kimberley. Next was a water filtration experiment, where the students tested how effective wetlands are at absorbing excessive rainfall and filtering out surplus sediment. Listening to the beats of singing zoologist Lucas Millar, the students enjoyed a music video full of engaging and easily digestible wetland facts.

Kylie and Alex engaging the students in our wetland water filtration experiment.

Finally, EK created its very own wetland, with a range of species: Australian rainbowfish, our common friendly garden resident, the green tree frog, and plants such as lilies and sedge. Students were tasked with identifying the different species in our aquarium, to demonstrate how high biodiversity creates a healthy ecosystem. Over 670 students participated in the STEM event. We were thankful for this opportunity to engage, educate and inspire the budding scientists of our Kimberley community.

- Alex Gibson

Community members have staged a colourful protest at oil and gas developer Buru Energy’s annual general meeting in Perth today, accusing the company of a lack of transparency over its failure to refer its west Kimberley projects to WA’s environment watchdog. 

Groups working to protect the Kimberley are aware Buru Energy’s projects are at advanced planning stages, yet have not been referred to the state’s EPA.

Photos and a video of the protest are available here.

Buru Energy’s planned Kimberley projects include:

• Re-opening its polluting Ungani oil production facility and trucking oil through Broome or Derby for export;
• Opening a new conventional gas project, Rafael and producing LNG and condensate (light oil) for local use and/or export;
• Constructing new roads and pipelines;
• Potentially recommencing fracking at its Yulleroo gas lease near Broome.

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said, “Buru Energy’s planned projects would result in the fossil fuel industrialisation of the Kimberley - a region that is famous around the world for its pristine nature. These projects would also use massive amounts of groundwater and emit huge volumes of climate pollution.

“Buru Energy also holds the Yulleroo unconventional gas field, where it has previously fracked and has not ruled out fracking there again in the future.

“The Kimberley has the largest most intact tropical savannah in the world and our aquifers, wetlands and waterways are pollution free, we need to make sure we keep it that way and fossil fuel projects are not compatible with our region.

“A full EPA assessment should be conducted to properly consider the individual, combined and cumulative environmental and social impacts of Buru Energy’s stated fossil fuel industrialisation plans.”

The community protests outside Buru Energy's AGM.

Lock the Gate Alliance WA spokesperson Claire McKinnon said, “Buru Energy wants to industrialise the west Kimberley with fossil fuel projects yet none of the company’s drilling plans have been referred to the WA environment watchdog in over a decade.

“We’re really concerned Buru Energy’s oil and gas projects will go under the radar unless they are referred for assessment and full public scrutiny.

“Buru Energy’s planned oil and gas projects would have a devastating impact on the Kimberley’s unique environment. Buru Energy has already faced criticism for bulldozing so much habitat in the Kimberley for grid seismic testing that if the clearing was arranged in a straight line, it would stretch more than halfway around the world.”

Last dry season I was lucky enough to have a day out with the Yawuru Country Manager team at the picturesque Yawuru wetland Tharndoo-Ngunjal (Lake Campion). It was a far cry from the usual wetland monitoring day on Country, as the Country Managers were acting on a film shoot with the Lotterywest marketing and grants team.