Wheatbelt NRM’s Noongar Budjar Rangers celebrated months of hard work at the official opening of the Noongar Land Enterprise Group’s Boola Boornap tree nursery in Northam last week.
They met with WA Governor Kim Beazley, who officially opened Boola Boornap on April 7 alongside Ballardong Noongar elder Deborah Moody and NLE elder Iris Maude Bonshore.
The rangers have helped the Aboriginal grower group the NLE cultivate more than 1 million native seedlings at Boola Boornap – Noongar for the Place of Many Trees – since work began on the site last year.
These plants will be used in revegetation projects to restore native species on properties and bushland around the Wheatbelt.
“For the past few months our Noongar Budjar Ranger team have been working for the NLE, helping them get the planting done for this year’s orders,” Wheatbelt NRM operations manager Rebecca Palumbo said.
“It has been a hard slog and our team are very proud of what they have achieved.
“The nursery infrastructure has been overhauled, the site cleaned up and operational and over a million seedlings planted. It was a great job by the team.
“We are excited to see the NLE move into this nursery and look forward to working with them into the future as we strive together to heal the country.”
The rangers are constantly expanding their skill set, and have completed work in revegetation projects, soil sampling, seed collection and cleaning among a range of other services.
If you have a project the Noongar Budjar Rangers can assist with contact Rebecca Palumbo on rpalumbo@wheatbeltnrm.org.au to discuss opportunities to bring them on board.
Photo credit: Shannon Beattie/Farm Weekly