SARA, South Australian Ranger Association

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The non-profit South Australian Ranger Association (SARA) brings together environmental professionals in our state who work in preserving and improving our outstanding protected areas.

Our aim is to support local workers as well as the global conservation community to promote the importance of field conservation professions and advance the sustainable management of natural and cultural resources through education, training and knowledge sharing opportunities.

SARA is affiliated with the International Ranger Federation and the Council of Oceania Ranger Associations who share common goals and connect like-minded groups.

SARA supports the Thin Green Line Foundation who are dedicated to supporting rangers worldwide who are working on the frontline of conservation

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2024 💚 What a year!

We hope all of our followers & members have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Thankyou for tuning in, we have had so much fun creating content showcasing the amazing work that South Australia's conservationists achieve 🙌🏼

Big things to come in 2025 🤟🏻

A couple of our NPWS members went over to Western Australia this week for the Australasian Wildlife Management Society conference. It included a catch up with Senior Ranger Kaija on Rottnest Island to hear all about what they do to manage visitors and wildlife with the very famous quokkas! It was really interesting hearing about the work done by rangers here, with visitor management being a major part of their role. 😃

This week, over 250 staff from the Department for Environment and Water got together for the 2024 DEWing Us Proud Awards.

A huge congratulations to all the winners, finalists and nominees! See the list below for all the winners from the National Parks and Wildlife Service Division 👏🏻

🏆 Geoff Axford - Individual Achievement of the Year
🏆 Michelle Smith - Unsung Hero (Individual)
🏆 Far West District (Ceduna & Streaky Bay) Team - First Nations Partnerships
🏆 Network of Operational Women Working Group - Safety and Wellbeing
🏆 Dancing Sea Lions (Emma Wallace) - Most Populat Social Media Post

Not sure how SARA fits into the global picture? 🌎

The South Australian Ranger Association sits under the Council of Oceania Ranger Associations (CORA) alongside our Oceania friends. CORA is a professional body that represents and supports Rangers and other professional officers involved in the conservation and management of our natural and cultural resources.

We are then directly affiliated with the International Ranger Federation, which is a federation of ranger associations around the globe. All SARA members are automatically members of the IRF. The IRF has several objectives:

• Promote and support Rangers throughout the world and create a global network of Rangers;
• Promote world community awareness and understanding of the role, values and benefits of Rangers in the conservation of natural and cultural resources;
• Foster professional exchanges among Rangers and twinning agreements between member associations

Thankyou to our new IRF Oceania Rep, Amanda for putting together this great visual 👏🏻

From little things big things grow!

Over the past few years, alot of work has been done to the Oraparinna bait production facility to increase efficiency and productivity. It may seem like a simple task, but with an extension to the shed, innovative engineering of tables/racks, updated safety gear and a Henry Ford inspired production line, the Bounceback Program has managed to increase their daily bait production capacity from 8,000 to 20,000 baits! This is a huge win for the state as more feral animals are removed from the landscape.

Staff from NPWS, SA Arid Lands Landscape Board (SAAL) and the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) use the facility to produce baits that are layed all across the state.

Meet two of SA Water’s reservoir rangers 👋

Holly and Alex play a vital role in safeguarding water resources 💧 and maintaining the local environment, 🌳 all while providing a meaningful experience for visitors to reserves across South Australia.

Did you know the the South Australian Ranger Association also includes rangers from @sawatercorp and @forestrysa? We love supporting our fellow rangers from neighbouring departments all working towards one goal: the protection and conservation of South Australia's landscapes! 💚

Happy International Men's Day!

This year's theme is "Positive Male Role Models" and we have so many of these in our Ranger ranks to recognise! Let's take a moment today to celebrate all the wonderful men in our field who show dedication and commitment to conservation, and a better tomorrow!

It is also important to spread awareness around men's mental health so today, ask the men around you "Are you OK?"

#internationalmensday

This week, SARA hosted a merchandise pop-up stall in the DEW head office and we sold $3,000 worth of goodies!! Thank you to everyone that came out to support us, you have raised really valuable funds to support rangers! 💚 And a big shoutout to the amazing Steph, Tammy, Jen and Jarrah for running the event.

We still have some 2025 SARA calendars left, but get in quick as they are our hottest item!! For only $15, your calendar will be full of amazing photos within South Australia's parks and reserves. If you would like to order one, please email DEW.SARangerAssociation@sa.gov.au

Our first-ever participant in the SA-Tasmania ranger exchange program is back! Ranger James Tomlinson recently returned from an incredible eight weeks working across Tassie’s snow-covered Cradle Mountain and Tasmanian Ranger Abbey has returned to Cradle Mountain after her time on the west coast of South Australia.

An excerpt from James' blog:

"Generally, Parks and Wildlife Tasmania and National Parks and Wildlife Service SA are quite similar. Some little differences I noticed may be just specific to the Flinders region rather than the whole of SA. There seems to be more of a walking/hiking culture in Tasmania. Many of the spectacular waterfalls, lakes, rivers and mountain views are only accessible by walking. The network of boardwalks into these locations is extensive and well-maintained. There are large expanses of wilderness and there are areas that are loved to death with high visitation from tourists.

An excerpt from Abbey's blog:

"I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities l have been presented with over the last nine weeks, I have felt very welcomed, a part of team and supported by the field centres l visited. Cradle Mountain could not be more different to the landscape l have been working in. I have come back with new perspectives, many learnings, and experiences that l won't forget anytime soon!"

James' and Abbey's journey shows just how much we can learn when we step into new landscapes and connect with others who share our passion. These exchanges strengthen our collective knowledge and inspire fresh ideas for caring for our wild places. Here’s to more experiences that build bridges and keep our parks thriving for generations to come!

A recap of the World Ranger Congress 2024 in Hyères, France 💚🇫🇷

A week full of inspiration, collaboration, learning and most importantly..FUN!

Have you heard of The Ranger App by @forcefornature ?

It’s a free online community connecting Rangers around the world, for social interaction, knowledge exchange and training.

Ranger Niamh had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the Founder and CEO of Force for Nature, Jamie McCallum at the World Ranger Congress. It was so amazing to hear about all the work that FFN and so many NGO's are doing in the background to promote and support our fellow rangers.

We aren't alone! Go and check out The Ranger App, the more rangers that use it, the better it gets 😁

World Ranger Congress 2024 - Hyères, France 🇫🇷🤝🏼

A beautiful sea of Rangers from all around the world. An incredible experience for all those involved.

WORLD RANGER CONGRESS: DAY 3 (part 2)!! 🇫🇷🇫🇷

For the field trips, Tammy had the opportunity to visit Domaine du Rayol which is similar to a botanical garden, but more wild!

After an hour’s bus trip along the coast from Hyéres and having a great chat with Edena from ARCVic we arrived at the gardens.

In 1989 the Conservatoire du littoral (Coastal Protection Agency) a public agency took over ownership of these gardens. The agency acquires or purchases parcels of land to protect from development and restores them to open to the public, generally partnering with an NGO group.

For these gardens the Conservatoire du littoral asked landscaper Gilles Clément to upgrade the gardens providing visitors with an experience from different Mediterranean climates, including southern Australia.

These gardens were once home to the Courmes family, who built the original home, as a retirement home in 1910, found it was too big so built a smaller one “Le Rayolet” on the property.

If you are in this area of France, well worth a visit. Spend some time wandering the gardens, you just have to remember where you are and look past the ‘weeds!’

Representatives from South Australia, Queensland and Victoria at the 2024 World Ranger Congress. We absolutely love this photo and it speaks volumes for the love and respect rangers have for each other 💚

📸 @ranjanphotographyofficial

WORLD RANGER CONGRESS: DAY 3 (part 1)!!🇫🇷🇫🇷

Today was dedicated to field trips and getting out and seeing how the French team manage their parks. Niamh opted to head across to Porquerolles Island which is a part of Port-Cros National Park. It was established in 2012 and attracts over 1 million visitors a year. It has been interesting to see the difference in park management where many parks in Europe are protected for cultural reasons (e.g. olive trees), rather than for pristine bush like in Australia.

Fire management is the main concern for the team that work on the island with smoking banned. Most of the park is marine, with only 1700ha of protected land versus 123,000ha of protected marine areas.

Thank-you to our wonderful tour guides who showed us around their beautiful park 🙌🏼

Nature Trivia as part of the @naturefestivalsa was a huge success last night!

Congratulations to the 'Lovely Lapwings' (@rangersteph, Mika, Tom & Darcy) for winning and taking out the overall prize, including two nights accommodation at the Cleland Cottage 🏆

The event had over 70 attendees; including some big names in conservation, many past and present rangers from NPWS, and SA Water, amongst many other passionate nature nerds 🤓

Not only was the event a lot of fun, but it also raised $1050 the @thingreenlinefoundation and the @sarangerassociation 🙌 big wins all around!

Thank you @thestirling for hosting us in your beautiful room and to @my.life.as.blythe, for all your time and effort that went into organising such a fabulous event, all whilst managing to be the greatest mum at the same time!

Hope to see you all there next year 🥳

WORLD RANGER CONGRESS: DAY 2!! 🇫🇷

On Wednesday morning we kicked off the day with a lovely swim in the Mediterranean! Us Aussies got a few weird looks for swimming in "the freezing cold" water but it was definitely warmer than SA's coastline!

Our first guest speaker was no other than John Scanlon, who was the CE of South Australia's Department for Environment in the late 90's. John touched on the target's of 30x30 and even mentioned our very own Bounceback Program (we gave him a new beanie to rep in Switzerland!)

Next was the amazing and inspirational Queensland Indigenous Womens Ranger Network. It was terrific to hear how this network was formed and how it even won an Earthshot Prize!

We then heard from the President of the @european_ranger_federation who discussed their new ranger exchange program with rangers from Germany and Israel.

After lunch we split up to take part in a a few workshops; inclusivity in the workforce, network and communication, 30x30 and technology. These were excellent workshops and Niamh even had the chance to meet @hollybudge who is the founder of @worldfemalerangerweek !

Before dinner we had a brief catch up of all the women rangers at the congress. Women rangers in the workforce has been a strong theme at the congress and has given us plenty of ideas to assist with our NPWS Network of Operational Women 🙌🏼

Finally was the @int_ranger_fed awards and congratulations to Bunty Tao, an Indigenous Ranger from India for winning the IRF President's Award!!

A study led by the University of Cambridge has found that heath goannas - a species of giant, scavenging lizard - act as natural clean-up crews by clearing maggot-ridden animal carcasses from the landscape.

This reduces the emergence of blowflies, which attack sheep by laying eggs on their backsides that hatch into flesh-eating maggots. The disease, known as ‘fly strike’, costs the Australian sheep farming industry an estimated $280 million a year.
This study was carried out at 18 sites across the Marna Banggara Rewilding Project area on Australia’s southern Yorke Peninsula, where over 90% of the native mammals are now extinct.

The researchers say that boosting populations of native large reptiles like heath goannas is vital in restoring Australia’s ecosystem and the services it supports.

“We found that Australia’s native scavengers like heath goannas are much more effective in removing blowflies from the landscape than invasive scavengers like European foxes and cats,” said Tom Jameson, a PhD researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and first author of the report.

This is the first study to show the importance of large reptiles as scavengers. It is published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

To get these results Jameson compared the scavenging activity of different animals in a region of southern Australia. He left hundreds of dead rats at feeding stations, with camera traps, across the landscape. He returned after five days to see whether the rats had been eaten, and to count the number of blowfly maggots left on any remaining carcasses. Camera trap footage revealed which scavenging animal had found the rat, and how quickly.

“The results suggest that conservation work in southern Australia to remove invasive species should also focus on boosting the population of heath goannas and other native species because they’re really important for the wider ecosystem,” said Jameson.

He added: “As well as benefiting native wildlife this will have knock-on benefits for local agricultural industry, and also attract more wildlife tourism.”

WORLD RANGER CONGRESS: DAY 1!! 🇫🇷

Over 450 Rangers from 100 countries arrived in Hyeres yesterday for the first day of the 10th World Ranger Congress. We had a warm welcome from the @int_ranger_fed President, Chris Galliers and the local French rangers/government. It was terrific to hear from Chris regarding the State of the Ranger Report (which some of our members took part in).

Following a morning of introductions, our very own SARA President Tammy Leggett hosted a Ranger Associations workshop and presented to a large group about SARA! Tammy did an excellent job and it was great to hear from both the Mongolian and Scottish Ranger Associations aswell.

We then gathered outside (finally the sun came out) and attended the opening flag ceremony of the congress and got our group photo 📸

Next was our Oceania Regional Meeting. It was fantastic to get so many representatives from Oceania together in one room and welcome some new associations! We thanked Jolene Nelson for her 5 years as our IRF Oceania Representative and welcomed our new rep which will be announced soon!

The day ended with a Potlatch night. This is where each country brought along some food from their culture. Being aussies, ofcourse we brought some Tim Tams, Fruchocs, Vegemite and fairy bread 😝

Tammy and Niamh have met so many amazing people and they are so excited to see what the rest of the week brings!

This October two of our members, Niamh Douglas (Publicity Team/Regional Rep) and Tammy Leggett (SARA President), are headed to France for the World Ranger Congress 🇫🇷

The World Ranger Congress is a flagship event of the International Ranger Federation, held every 3 to 4 years. This congress brings Rangers together from all continents, all commited to the protection of natural, cultural and historical sites.

The World Ranger Congress if the largest gathering of Rangers in the world, providing a platform to share practices and solutions to protect our shared heritage 🌍

Have the best time Niamh and Tammy and thank you for respresenting the South Australian Ranger Association and the Department for Environment and Water overseas! Stay tuned for more content 🤠🍃

This is a game of "Guess the motion camera animal", a few similar yet different ones to keep things interesting!

Can you name all 10?

Come along to next weeks @naturefestivalsa event hosted by us and guaranteed to be great fun for all the nature nerds! Don’t expect it to be a walk in the park, our questions will challenge you and you’ll be able to win some great prizes! Ticket link in our bio. 🤓🦘🌳

Western Quolls (Idnya) Bounceback into the Northern Flinders Ranges!

Idnya were once present in a wide variety of habitats across Australia, however following European settlement their range decreased dramatically.

A partnership between @fame_species and @environmentsanews has led to the reintroduction of Idnya to Vulkathunha - Gammon Ranges National Park. After their release in April 2022 the quolls are settling in nicely and the populations are growing steadily thanks to the ongoing predator control.

Earlier this year, the Bounceback team accompanied by rangers and volunteers, took to the field to spend a week monitoring our spotty friends. As you can see, we have a bit of fun doing it! 🤠

A very sad but exciting day!

By now I am sure you all know who @emma_blythman is and the hard work she has put into building this SARA Instagram page.

Well, today is bittersweet as we farewell her from the publicity team and from NPWS (for a little while) as she begins a new adventure in Canada next month! 🇨🇦🍁

I (Niamh) will miss you so very much. Please send Emma some well wishes in the comments.

Goodluck Queen 💚 pls don't hate me for that last video x

This cheeky little guy tried to move into somebody's house in Mount Gambier, so Ranger Leah and Ranger Crespy kindly relocated him to a nearby National Park 🐨

Check out what two of our Seasonal Fire Crew found in Alligator Gorge today 🐍how cool!! 🤩

📸 Photo credit to Keagan Porter and Arien Monterona

This is a game called: "Can you name that bird?!" 🐦

All images from motion cameras in various locations around Robe, South Australia

Recently @dianalouise8 volunteered with Friends of Scott Creek Conservation Park to help with a bird banding project.

How cute are these little guys and girls 😍

*Birds handled with relevant permits and bird banding authorities

Put your hand up if you have done preseason training in the last fortnight 🙋🏻‍♀️

Over the last two weeks fire crew from around the state have dusted off their helmets and got stuck into training drills, ready for another season of prescribed burns and wildfire response 🔥

Thanks for the snaps @comradesmokey, @rachiedouglas and @moooreey

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