sandal wood – Michmutters

The recent spread of foot-and-mouth disease to Indonesia is not the only biosecurity battle for which farmers in WA’s easternmost agricultural region are bracing.

As the only growing region in WA that sits on an interstate border, the Ord Valley’s irrigated horticulture, broadacre cropping and sandalwood industries are on high alert as several dangerous pests and plant diseases creep further west.

Located just 40 kilometers from WA’s border with the Northern Territory on the outskirts of Kununurra, it is no stranger to biosecurity incursions.

It’s where the cane toad first crossed into the state more than a decade ago, and where the damaging fall armyworm affected the first WA broadacre crops in 2020.

It’s also close to where myrtle rust was found for the first time two months ago.

It’s feared mango shoot looper and banana freckle disease could be next after they were each detected in the Northern Territory this year.

Promising new project on hold

A man wearing fluoro yellow shirt holding log of wood in a shed — David Brocklehurst says the detection of myrtle rust has put a new project on hold.(ABC Kimberley: Courtney Fowler)

Sandalwood producer Santanol is among the hardest hit by the detection of myrtle rust on an East Kimberley pastoral station in June.

Myrtle rust is a fungal disease that can infect and kill plants in the myrtaceae family, such as eucalypts, bottlebrushes, paperbarks and peppermint trees.

While the disease poses no threat to Santanol’s primary sandalwood operation near Kununurra, a new pilot project targeting the cut flower and aromatic oil markets has been put on hold as a result of its spread to WA.

For commercial reasons, Santanol is remaining tight-lipped on the plant species being used in the pilot, but has confirmed it is part of the myrtaceae family.

Managing director David Brocklehurst said plans to expand the crop into broadacre trials this dry season were now too risky.

“We are very concerned that if the rust gets here and we’ve just planted 100,000 plants, then we would actually end up having nothing,” Mr Brocklehurst said.

“We’re keeping the plants well-quarantined and we’ll just see how this unfolds.”

The Department of Primary Industries said there had been no further detections of myrtle rust since its initial detection in June.

Horticulture sector on alert

Man in blue shirt inspecting green leaves and yellow flowers of mango trees. — Steve Angel is concerned about the detection of mango shoot looper in the Northern Territory.(ABC Kimberley: Stephanie Sinclair)

Meanwhile, the recent spread of mango shoot looper to the Northern Territory and detections of varroa mite in New South Wales has put Ord Valley mango growers on edge.

Mango shoot looper is an invasive pest that attacks mango and lychee plants while the varroa mite targets bees, which play a key role in the pollination of a variety of horticultural crops.

Swag Rural manager Steve Angel, who looks after WA’s biggest mango orchard on the outskirts of Kununurra, said he had limited vehicle movements across the property.

Mr Angel said he was also conducting regular checks of the orchard to ensure there was no sign of the pests.

He said the spread of either disease into WA would be devastating.

“If we didn’t control them and have preventive measures, there would be no sense being here,” Mr Angel said.

“People have got to be on the front foot and be aware, not on the back foot waiting for something, making contingency plans.

“We want to keep it out.”

Quarantined volumes soar

The back of a woman in yellow hi-vis watching a man open an esky in the back of a camper van. — A quarantine inspector checks a vehicle near Kununurra.(ABC Kimberley: Stephanie Sinclair)

Officers at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s quarantine checkpoint near Kununurra are the last line of defense in protecting the region from threats looming across the border.

According to new figures for the 2021-22 financial year, more than 14,000 kilograms of quarantine risk material was detected at the checkpoint, up more than 50 per cent from the previous year.

Supervising inspector Kenneth Bin Jacob said while the lifting of WA’s COVID-19 border restrictions largely contributed to the jump, the long-term trend showed more risk material was collected each year.

“We do see an increase each year — a slight increase,” he said.

“It never really goes backwards.”

Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the state government had increased its biosecurity efforts in response to the outbreaks of plant diseases and pests in the Northern Territory.

“We are very aware of the risks of banana freckle and mango shoot looper and we’re working with the growers to up both our surveillance and our movement control,” she said.

“We’re also developing a broader biosecurity awareness program that we’ll be aiming at the punters, making sure that people understand that they’ve got a role to play.”

The heightened plant biosecurity concerns come at a time when Kimberley pastoralists are on alert for animal infections that have spread to Indonesia, including foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease.

The smell hits Kayshun Murray when his chainsaw is almost through the trunk.

Standing in a helmet and steel-capped boots in the West Australian desert, the young ranger inhales a fragrance judged to be among the world’s best.

“You can actually smell all the beauty in it,” he said.

The scent of the sacred sandalwood tree has wafted over Yilka country, more than 1,000 kilometers north-east of Perth, for millennia.

It has long been coveted by international perfume houses and incense makers from New York to Beijing.

Western Australia has harvested the trees and distilled their valuable oil to help meet that demand since 1845.

But Mr Murray and other Yilka traditional owners were only granted a seat at that table a year ago when they received a license to harvest wild sandalwood on their country.

They are determined to retain that right into the future.

Push to ban wild harvest

Calls have been made to ban the harvest of wild sandalwood amid fears it is being pushed towards the brink of extinction.

A law that determines how much can be taken will be reviewed before the end of 2025.

The government will call for public comments about a management program in the coming months.

He wears hi-vis and leans on a crate of sandalwood — HM has wanted to see sandalwood harvested on Yilka country for decades.(ABC News: Madison Snow)

The driving force behind the Yilka sandalwood operation, known as HM for cultural reasons, said he understood those concerns.

But the Yilka Talintji Aboriginal Corporation chairperson said Aboriginal people should have the opportunity to benefit from industry on their land — as the WA government had for years.

Figures from WA’s Forest Products Commission (FPC) show that total revenue from wild sandalwood is expected to exceed $21 million, excluding costs, in the past financial year.

Yilka secured native title to the Cosmo Newberry reserve in 2017.

That meant, after receiving its harvesting license, it could profit from harvesting the wild tree.

HM said all earnings were invested back into the land after paying rangers’ wages and buying new equipment.

“That way, you don’t have to depend on government,” he said.

Sandalwood sits in a crate — Sandalwood is worth up to $25,000 a tonne.(ABC News: Madison Snow)

‘Regeneration is happening’

HM said his organization hired an external consultant who said a 100-tonne annual wild harvest would be sustainable on Yilka country.

But he said Yilka Heritage and Land Care rangers would instead harvest 60 tonnes, 20 of which would be dead wood.

He said rangers harvested “every second legal tree” from pre-determined lots.

He said they would not return to that lot for 45 years — the time it took for trees to grow.

HM said 20 seeds were thrown down to replace every felled tree.

WA’s Forest Products Commission has attributed the decline of wild sandalwood to the disappearance of small marsupials that buried and dispersed seeds, overgrazing, and reduced winter rainfall rather than harvesting.

It believes regeneration work could help turn things around.

HM stands to the right of the machine, which looks like a tractor — Plant equipment has been customized to pull sandalwood trees.(ABC News: Madison Snow)

HM said the junior ranger program — made up of school-aged children from Cosmo Newberry — helped with regeneration by measuring, photographing, and recording the coordinates of pulled and planted trees.

“So when we go for our next license we can prove to the government that all this regeneration is happening from where we pulled last year,” HM said.

social sustainability

The harvested sandalwood is taken to Dutjanh Sandalwood Oil’s distillery in Kalgoorlie where oil is extracted and sold to the international fragrance market.

Distillery chief executive Guy Vincent, who recently returned from the World Perfumery Congress in Miami, said a combination of cultural stewardship and scientific expertise was key to ensuring the wild sandalwood industry was sustainable.

The small bottle is held between thumb and forefinger — A ranger holds a small bottle of sandalwood oil from Yilka country.(ABC News: Madison Snow)

Mr Vincent also said Dutjanh, who was half-owned by Aboriginal Australians and invested about 30 per cent of earnings back into communities, and Yilka had clear commitments towards social sustainability.

But he said the industry needed to do more in that space.

“Purchasing the wood through groups like Yilka is economically and socially sustainable because we have our benefit sharing,” Mr Vincent said.

“[But] we’re a very rare case in the industry.”

She stands in hi-vis and points at the tree — Ranger Jessica Sullivan with a sandalwood tree on Yilka country.(Supplied: Bridie Hardy)

The WA government recently appointed an Aboriginal Sandalwood Advisory Group to help increase First Nations’ involvement in the industry.

It said it increased the wild sandalwood quota available for Aboriginal people seeking a license last year while reducing the FPC’s quota.

It also said social sustainability was among the criteria that wild harvest sandalwood quantities would be reviewed again by 2026.

‘You can walk in freedom’

Ranger Lyall Westlake said he felt at peace on country.

He has curly hair and a face mask tucked under his beard — Lyall Westlake says he loves working on country.(ABC NewsEmily Smith)

“The land is really perfect,” he said, standing under rain clouds on the Great Central Road.

“You can smell the breeze. Smell the wind.”

He said it was different from in town where there were more cars and people.

“You don’t know who is coming and going,” he said.

“But here you can walk in freedom.”

Fellow ranger Gwenetta Westlake said she loved working with her younger sibling, Chelsea.

Two women stand next to each other smiling on a bare, flat patch of land — Gwenetta and Chelsea Westlake love their work as rangers.(ABC News: Madison Snow)

“She always chases me, wherever I go because she’s my baby sister,” she said.

The Cosmo Newberry residents are among the 45 rangers HM has on the books to manage the sandalwood operation, as well as cool burns and care for cultural sites.

A ranger is pictured from behind, as flames leap into the shot — Rangers conduct cool burns on Yilka country.(ABC News: Madison Snow)

HM said the work provided alternative jobs to the local mining industry and was a better fit culturally for many of those involved.

He said a well-managed industry could pave the road to a better future for many residents.

“Looking after country is the most important thing for us,” he said.

“If we don’t, we don’t exist.”

Key points:

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories