Wagiman Fire Project

Wagiman Fire Project is a savanna fire management project located in the Upper Daly region of the Northern Territory, approximately 100km west of Pine Creek and two hours south of Darwin. It was registered on December 24, 2024, and covers an extensive 445,501.81 hectares across the Upper Daly and Wagiman Aboriginal Land Trusts.

Savanna fire management emissions avoidance projects involve undertaking strategic early dry season burning. By purposefully managing fuel loads early in the year, this methodology reduces the risk, extent, and severity of unmanaged late dry season wildfires, which in turn significantly reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere.

The Victoria Daly region is known for traditional Indigenous land use, conservation, and some pastoral grazing operations. The project area sits within the high rainfall monsoonal zone of the Top End, receiving well over 1,000mm of rain annually. The soils around the Daly River basin are generally sandy loams, lateritic soils, and heavier clays near the river networks.

This project is a strong collaborative effort operating under a Section 19 lease agreement, where the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation acts as the project proponent and the Northern Land Council serves as the project operator. On-ground fire operations are proudly carried out by the Wagiman Rangers. A vital cultural and environmental focus of the project is preventing "wrong-way fire", unmanaged, intense late-season fires that threaten culturally significant areas such as thick monsoonal forests and native Cypress pine. After completing Phase 1 feasibility operations in 2020, the project transitions into Phase 2 operational independence in early 2025.