Northern Rivers land management group, Jagun Alliance, is one the first organisations in Australia that is dedicated to using Indigenous practices and beliefs within their land care programs.
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The alliance works with First Nations communities, government organisations, private landholders and the wider community to provide education and implementation of cultural fire in the landscape.
Keith Close, Operations Manager of the Jagun Alliance, said, "Our main aim is to make people aware of cultural burning and how we can bring Indigenous practices back into the landscape."
"It important to show communities that cultural burning is a good tool to be used on country and as a bush regeneration tool," he said.
Mr Close is Bundjalung Githabal man who grew up in Casino and has worked as a field officer with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife for 20 years. However, for the past year he has been working with Jagun Alliance.
The approach to burning that Jagun Alliance adopts brings together Indigenous and western practices and methods.
To date, they have worked with over a hundred land owners and their list of stakeholders grows daily.
The primary concern - when the alliance works with land owners - is asset protection, such as livestock, houses and cars. They also protect scar trees, caves and other sacred landmarks.
The alliance's approach to burning is to have a controlled and cold burn that doesn't get out of hand.
"What we usually do is start the fire from fire sticks from the highest point and burn into the wind," Mr Close said.
"We also only have one ignition point and spread the fire through slowly dragging a piece of grass up to five meters from the ignition point, and we don't use any accelerants."
Local farmer from Kippenduff, Mick Smith, said that after years of burning off by himself, he decided to reach out to the alliance to assist him and he was pleased with the results from the burn.
"One of the big differences I noticed," he said, "was that it was a far slower and colder burn than I had traditionally done."
"By burning from the middle, I learnt that you get a more comprehensive burn. We burnt around the perimeter in the past and noticed that we were missing patches toward the middle."
Since the burn, Mick has noticed a number of native grasses beginning to germinate and is keen to continue using what he has learnt into the future.
Currently, the Jagun Alliance only has a federal grant for 12-months which finishes in March of 2024. However, they are currently looking to attain more.
If you haven't already been, stay on the lookout for one of the Jagun Alliance workshops to learn more about the ways indigenous knowledge can inform land care and the ways you can get involved.
For more information, visit: https://www.jagunalliance.org.au/about
