Restoring cultural plant communities at sacred water sites

ABSTRACT Water places have been critical to central Australian Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. However, many waterhole communities have been degraded by factors including invasion by large feral herbivores and non-native plants. We document the restoration of two waterholes near Santa Teresa (Ltyentye Apurte), with a focus on culturally significant plants. We described plant communities around waterholes in 2007, before fences were erected to exclude large feral animals, and again in 2018. Plant cover and diversity were higher after fencing and the occurrence of culturally significant plants greatly increased. However, invasive buffel grass was the dominant ground cover after fencing and will require active suppression to allow culturally significant native plants to proliferate. Traditional Owners identified excellent opportunities to achieve restoration through educating young people, with a focus on sharing intergenerational knowledge and engaging local Indigenous rangers in management, enabling them to meet the traditional obligations to care for country.

[1]  P. McDonald,et al.  The impact of camel visitation on native wildlife at remote waterholes in arid Australia , 2019, Journal of Zoology.

[2]  B. Judd.  Kapi Wiya: Water insecurity and aqua-nullius in remote inland Aboriginal Australia , 2019, Thesis Eleven.

[3]  N. Waltham,et al.  Working with land and sea rangers to tackle tropical wetland restoration and conservation on the north-western islands, Torres Straits, Australia , 2018, Wetlands Ecology and Management.

[4]  G. Edwards,et al.  The impact of feral camels (Camelus dromedarius) on woody vegetation in arid Australia , 2016 .

[5]  K. Strehlow,et al.  The impact of feral camels (Camelus dromedarius) on remote waterholes in central Australia , 2016 .

[6]  P. Davies,et al.  Collaborative research partnerships inform monitoring and management of aquatic ecosystems by Indigenous rangers , 2015, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.

[7]  Aaron C. Greenville,et al.  Ecosystem risk assessment of Georgina gidgee woodlands in central Australia , 2015 .

[8]  Ross M. Thompson,et al.  The impacts of an invasive herbivore (Camelus dromedaries) on arid zone freshwater pools: An experimental investigation of the effects of dung on macroinvertebrate colonisation , 2015 .

[9]  K. Strehlow,et al.  Persistence of central Australian aquatic invertebrate communities , 2014 .

[10]  Sarah White,et al.  Spatial pattern and severity of fire in areas with and without buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and effects on native vegetation in central Australia , 2013 .

[11]  F. Walsh,et al.  Anpernirrentye : a Framework for Enhanced Application of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in Natural Resource Management , 2013 .

[12]  C. Pickering,et al.  A global review of weeds that can germinate from horse dung , 2013 .

[13]  Y. Uprety,et al.  Contribution of Traditional Knowledge to Ecological Restoration: Practices and Applications , 2012 .

[14]  Bertram Ostendorf,et al.  Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) as an invader and threat to biodiversity in arid environments: a review. , 2012 .

[15]  Jh Leigh,et al.  Plants of Western New South Wales , 2012 .

[16]  N. Weston,et al.  Arafura three: Aboriginal ranger groups protecting and managing an internationally significant swamp , 2012 .

[17]  S. Jackson,et al.  Australian approaches for managing 'country' using Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge , 2012 .

[18]  N. Marshall,et al.  Tackling Contentious Invasive Plant Species: A Case Study of Buffel Grass in Australia , 2012, Environmental Management.

[19]  Georgia Miller,et al.  Ecological impacts of buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) invasion in central Australia - does field evidence support a fire-invasion feedback? , 2010 .

[20]  William K Saalfeld,et al.  Evaluation of the impacts of feral camels , 2010 .

[21]  Sean M. Moran,et al.  Camel usage and impacts at a permanent spring in central Australia: a case study. , 2010 .

[22]  E. Ens,et al.  Combining Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Knowledge to Assess and Manage Feral Water Buffalo Impacts on Perennial Freshwater Springs of the Aboriginal-Owned Arnhem Plateau, Australia , 2010, Environmental management.

[23]  A. Knapton,et al.  Central Australian waterbodies: The importance of permanence in a desert landscape , 2008 .

[24]  William K Saalfeld,et al.  Managing the impacts of feral camels in Australia : a new way of doing business , 2008 .

[25]  Mla Citations,et al.  Getting Started with , 2006 .

[26]  P. Clarke,et al.  Long-term changes in semi-arid vegetation: Invasion of an exotic perennial grass has larger effects than rainfall variability , 2005 .

[27]  E. Fleishman,et al.  Associations among spring‐dependent aquatic assemblages and environmental and land use gradients in a Mojave Desert mountain range , 2005 .

[28]  P. Latz.  Bushfires & Bushtucker: Aboriginal Plant Use in Central Australia , 2004 .

[29]  A. Franks.  The ecological consequences of Buffel Grass Cenchrus ciliaris establishment within remnant vegetation of Queensland , 2002 .

[30]  G. Laslett,et al.  New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago , 2001, Science.

[31]  Pierre Horwitz,et al.  Environmental Narratives and the Need for Multiple Perspectives to Restore Degraded Landscapes in Australia , 2000 .

[32]  I. Bayly.  Review of how indigenous people managed for water in desert regions of Australia , 1999 .

[33]  G. Chippendale.  Determination of plant species grazed by open range cattle in central Australia. , 1964 .