Traditional Owners inspired land management course enters third year

“With Warreen Beek Rangers Program, we went to Traditional Owners and asked them what course they want us to build, and we built what they wanted instead of the other way around.” - Ben Cullen.

Ben Cullen and Mark Gardiner planting trees Source: Annette Ruzicka

The Warreen Beek Rangers program is a conservation and land management course designed by Trust For Nature (TFN) and the Bunurong Land Council for Traditional Owners/Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples wishing to gain skills to work on Country.

In a conversation with NITV Radio, Ben Cullen Trust for Nature’s Regional Manager for Port Philip and Westernport said Warreen Beek Rangers program is about sharing knowledge to protect Country.

"The course is designed for Traditional Owners to come and get their accreditation to do land management work.”

Warreen Beek Rangers course participants, Trust For Nature and Mornington Peninsula Shire Staff out on site during a tree planting day. Source: Supplied

“The overall objective is to provide employment within the local communities and provide the skills they need to go out and have a big impact managing land around greater Melbourne.”

The TFN program has already contributed to the restoration of middens while teaching skills such as chainsaw and chemical use, occupational health and safety, weed control and cultural studies.

Through Warreen Beek Rangers program, fire elders have  come on board to teach the practice of Indigenous burns.

The conservation and land management certificate III course is now in its third year and orientation day for the 2020 intake is on October 28.