Western Australian Indigenous ranger program proposed for 5m hectares

Consortium of groups propose new swath of national parks be designated and put into the care of native title holders

Five million hectares of unmanaged pastoral leases in outback Western Australia would become national park land under a proposal being put before the Barnett government to expand the Indigenous ranger program and create more than 200 jobs.

The 66 leases are dotted throughout the Pilbara, midwest, and Gascoyne regions, spanning a 1,000km range from Geraldton to Port Hedland and stretching inland about 6ookm to East Murchison in the south and Roy Hill in the north.