Fire Abatement

Djelk rangers work on country to ensure appropriate fire regimes are maintained. When country is empty and left unburned large fuel loads can accumulate, leading to less frequent fires but with higher intensities.  This change in fire intensity can alter the makeup of the ecosystem as plants that are adapted to one intensity of fire may not survive fires of a higher intensity. Further, less frequent larger fires release larger amounts of CO₂ is released if burning is maintained.

Djelk rangers use a series of fire methods to ensure that country is burnt early in the dry season when fuel loads are lower. Data from burning is captured using Cyber-tracker and the Northern Australia Fire Index (NAFI) and this is used to monitor areas burnt and develop a fine scale mosaic burn of the land.

Feral Animal control

Within the Djelk IPA are large numbers of Feral Buffalo and Feral Pigs that occupy the floodplains and billabongs. Feral Buffalos impact upon natural resources like billabongs by disturbing the soils and vegetation owing to overgrazing and wallowing in mud. Buffaloes have also been implicated in the spread of weeds, particularly Mimosa pigra on floodplain habitats.

Feral pigs are destructive to the natural environment because they engage in ‘rooting’ behaviour to locate food. This rooting disrupts the seed bank, disturbs surface vegetation, alters soil composition, increases the growth of weeds, disperses the seeds of exotic plants, and destroys habitat utilised by native species, their omnivorous, meaning that they eat a wide and varied diet including small animals and invertebrates, their rooting behaviour also increases soil erosion.

Rangers patrol areas and collect data by using cybertracker to record the damage and utilise the information to inform the traditional land owners the impact and destruction of feral animals.

Customs, Fisheries and AQIS monitoring

The rangers perform a number of patrols every month for the Australian customs service, NT Fisheries and AQIS. Their presence on the water and knowledge of the area ensures effective patrols which have decreased the instances of illegal fishing and prevented pest outbreaks in Australia.