Ranger Exchange 2024 - Abbey’s Adventures update two

Approximately 70 rangers and conservationists recently descended upon the quiet country town of Pinnaroo, for the annual South Australia Ranger Association (SARA) migration.

Located on the South Australia – Victorian border, the migration brought together staff from Parks and Wildlife, SA Water and SA Forestry alongside anyone with an interest in conservation.

The SARA are supporters of the Thin Green Line Foundation and this year to raise funds, an auction was held where, by the end of the night, SARA members had raised over five thousand dollars for the Thin Green Line Foundation.

For following three days, l had the chance to listen to presentations, get out into the local parks and network with people from across South Australia.

Monday morning kicked off with malleefowl monitoring in the Peebinga Conservation Park.

This was an exciting task as it gave us the opportunity to look for the elusive malleefowl bird and their nests.

Peebinga Conservation Park is the fourth oldest park in SA and has one of the highest breeding populations of malleefowl.

Walking through the bushland here is much easier compared to Tasmania, as there is mostly just open scrub and trees to navigate.

In the afternoon, we learnt about a different type of park called a Dark Sky Reserve, for which the Swan Reach Conservation Park was recently nominated.

A Dark Sky Reserve is an area where the sky is exceptionally dark (Swan Reach is the second darkest in Australia).

The purpose of these areas is to provide a night time reserve for people to go star gazing.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about this unique concept and thinking about where it would be possible in Tasmania.

On Tuesday, l chose to go four-wheel driving along the Border Track in the Ngarkat Conservation Park – one of SA's most iconic 4WD tracks. The Border Track, as the name suggests, runs down the SA/VIC border between two parks. During the drive, we discussed the management of the track and the importance of volunteer support to maintain tracks.

Wednesday was to be a day of presentations. With topics ranging from restoration and ecology to dingos and compliance. The dingo presentations were particularly interesting to me as we do not have them in Tassie, whereas they are relatively common over here.

It was interesting to learn about dingo behaviour, genetics and a variety of management techniques.

Overall, the week provided an epic opportunity to meet people from various parks that l would not normally have the opportunity to meet and also to get out and explore the northeast of South Australia (including standing on the Victorian border!)

The SARA event was incredibly well organised and provides valuable support to rangers and opportunities for everyone to be involved.