Published: 22 Oct 2018

We couldn't be more excited to welcome the Oak Valley Rangers as partners of the Country Needs People campaign.

The Oak Valley Rangers have only recently been established. Representatives say this is a huge step forward for the people of Oak Valley who have desperately anticipated the arrival of jobs that will allow Anangu to manage the country that has always belonged to them.

To be an Oak Valley ranger means that the outside world has recognised that caring for country and maintaining culture is important enough to create jobs to do so. Within Oak Valley, a ranger job is a real job, which means that there is a pathway from dependence and a chance to fulfil long-overdue responsibilities to country.

The Oak Valley Rangers are already working hard with an initial focus on inducting the new rangers in project plans, logistics, procedures, visual checklists and funding with some great afternoon trips on country. The rangers have already planned a waterhole and threatened species trip.

Oak Valley Rangers join 38 other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, as supporting organisations for the Country Needs People campaign to grow and secure Indigenous ranger jobs and Indigenous Protected Areas.