Indigenous rangers join forces at EXTRAVAGAMBA 2025 to combat invasive gamba grass

Rangers from across the NT are taking action against one of the region’s most destructive environmental threats. Find out how.

Rangers come together at Batchelor Institute to learn how to recognise and combat Gamba Grass. Picture: David Hancock / Supplied.

More than 60 Indigenous rangers from 27 ranger groups have gathered in Batchelor for a groundbreaking Gamba Eradication and Biodiversity Conservation (GEBC) forum, known as EXTRAVAGAMBA 2025.

The event, the first ever hosted at Batchelor Institute, aims to equip rangers, particularly those from remote communities, with hands-on training to identify, manage, and eliminate the highly invasive gamba grass before it spreads further across the Territory.

Traditional Owner Adam Stanton shows Rangers from Yirralka and Bawinanga the impacts of Gamba Grass. Picture: David Hancock / Supplied.

GEBC project manager Tom Price warned that urgent action is needed to stop the grass, which fuels extreme fires and threatens native ecosystems.

“Gamba grass is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity in the NT … creating high fuel loads and driving fires up to 10 times hotter, longer and higher than native grass fires,” he said.

“These extreme fires pose dangerous risks to people, property, and animals, and are highly destructive to native flora and fauna.”

A map showing the Gamba Grass Zone A Eradication Zone. Picture: Batchelor Institute / Supplied.

The forum included presentations, practical demonstrations, and training on treatment techniques such as correct spraying and manual removal of the fast-spreading grass.

With gamba seeds lasting only a few seasons, Price said now is the critical time to act.

The GEBC project is targeting full eradication from Zone A by June 2026.

Originally published as Indigenous rangers join forces at EXTRAVAGAMBA 2025 to combat invasive gamba grass