NOT SUBBED
In the Bunyi (Bunya) Mountains on Wakka Wakka Country, open grasslands have been maintained by cultural fire practises for thousands of years. Many animals live on the edge of the rainforest and take advantage of the open grasslands. The rainforest border acts as a natural containment line for burning practises. Wakka Wakka people use the cycles of the ecosystems to identify the best time to burn. People look at what country is telling them and look for environmental signs to occur like when the weather conditions aren’t too dry or hot or when seeds drop into the grasslands. Fires are started from the tops of the hills and increase in intensity as they as it travels down. The Bunya sun skink likes the open grasslands after a burn. Keeping up the grass diversity is important in maintaining the lands so one grass species doesn’t take over the grasslands. FACT BOX Once people were taken away from their traditional lands, the land wasn’t maintained making way for the rainforest to reclaim the open land. This means the Wakka Wakka people have lost a lot of these open spaces. Rangers from the Bunya Peoples Aboriginal Corporation are reintroducing these practices to bring back the grasslands and improve country health. This involves the removal and management of a lot of invasive species and triggering the current ecosystem to sync up with the natural system.