Deep in the Little Sandy Desert, Martu walked with purposeful footsteps, weaving their way between clumps of spiky green spinifex, fanning out across the sandplain. Eyes were to the ground, reading the small indents, scrapes and scratches in the sand. And then, the tracks the rangers had been looking for: the bounding-overstep motion of the mankarr (greater bilby).

Martu have been carving it forward, with help from the Dream it Forward grant! The grant has contributed to the development of a new beginning for Martu elders to recommence carving — a practice that had been steadily eroded over the past 10 years, largely due to a lack of accessibility to carving tools.

Martu rangers have been working on bat monitoring – deploying song meters at Karlamilyi National Park and collecting the recordings for analysis. Eight species of echolocating bat were detected, including the Pilbara leaf-nosed bat (Rhinonicteris aurantia); a vulnerable species under federal and state legislation!

The partnership between BHP and KJ provides social, cultural and environmental programs to conserve and protect Martu culture, land and heritage. It has generated significant employment opportunities for Martu, primarily through a ranger program. Martu elder, Thelma Judson, was asked what this partnership has meant to her.

Rangers have been involved in successful helicopter mapping activities to relocate waterholes out of Punmu and Kunawarritji. The work was combined with waru (fire) work to look after the country.

Martu rangers and staff from Punmu and Kunawaritji schools came together recently (alongside many rangers and elders in Parnngurr) to learn and record elders’ language and stories.

KJ rangers teamed up with a crew of Trackcare volunteers in Kunawarritji to help build toilet facilities on the Canning Stock Route.

For the first time in history, a threatened species recovery plan for Night Parrots was drafted on country with help from rangers, setting a benchmark for government partnerships.

Fire management activities are well underway across Martu country. Following the Incendiary Machine Operator (IMO) training earlier in the year, each ranger team has undertaken aerial burning operations. This work is linking fire scars from previous years to produce fire breaks, and breaking up large areas of unburnt country — the rangers truly are managing fire on a landscape scale.

The Jigalong rangers have been working around Pinpi (Durba Hills) and Kaalpi (Calvert Ranges) to conduct monitoring work on the warru (black-flanked rock wallaby) population, to search for signs of a wiminyji (northern quoll) population and to carry out mankarr (bilby) surveys.