PASTORALISTS have welcomed the long awaited completion of the Murchison Region Vermin Cell fence.
Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan officially opened the project last week, which encloses 53 pastoral properties in a wild dog proof cell to encourage small livestock production in the Southern Rangelands.
The State government has invested $1.144 million towards building the fence as part of the Western Australian Wild Dog Action Plan.
The cell encompasses more than 6.5m hectares of pastoral land, extending through the Yalgoo, Mount Magnet, Sandstone, Cue and Meekatharra areas.
It is one of four cells in the pastoral region which aim to help rebuild the sheep industry by mitigating the threat of wild dogs on livestock.
Former president of the Shire of Mount Magnet and Challa station owner Ashley Dowden was one of the main instigators of the Murchison Region Vermin Cell fence in the late 2000s.
After receiving some initial funding through the Royalties for Regions (RfR) Country Local Government Fund (CLGF) he said it had been frustrating to witness the project stall for many years.
"I saw, with other councillors, the opportunity to combine funds from Meekatharra, Sandstone, Mount Magnet, Yalgoo and Cue shires to get some work happening to get this off the ground - and that's where it all started," Mr Dowden said.
"However the (agriculture) minister at the time refused to support this project, so it all came to a bit of a halt... and I became a bit disillusioned after 14 years of blood, sweat and tears.
"I felt like I had failed the pastoralists inside the cell that had become reliant on this fence to continue, especially to run small stock."
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Throwing in the towel at that point, Mr Dowden handed the project reigns over to the Murchison Regional Vermin Council chairman and Shire of Mount Magnet president Jorgen Jensen and its former chief executive and Meekatharra Rangelands Biosecurity Association Inc executive officer Geoff Brooks, so they could keep "fighting the fight" for the cell to be completed.
"A period of time went by where nothing happened and then with the change of government, the new minister (Alannah MacTiernan) and someone new driving the project there was a change of heart," Mr Dowden said.
"The million dollars that Ms MacTiernan put forward was what made the Federal government contribute $2.4m as well, and that was what enabled us to complete it."
Approached by the Murchison Regional Vermin Council to come back on board as the project's manager about four years ago, Mr Dowden took up the role.
At the official opening of the project, Ms MacTiernan said part of the argument from local groups and shires for the State government to fund the project was that there had been economic and personal consequences resulting from a lack of job opportunities for the Aboriginal community living within the area.
"Part of the pitch was if we start building these fences it would create some work," Ms MacTiernan said.
"But we were also very engaged on the issue of trying to bring small stock back into this area - sheep have traditionally been such a big part of the area but obviously the wild dogs have made this a great challenge."
She said she was proud that the State Barrier Fence had been renovated to modern standards entirely by Aboriginal contractors.
"It has been transformative for many of those businesses to be given the opportunity," Ms MacTiernan said.
"This project has contributed to strong local job creation and Aboriginal involvement, including the use of regional contractors to erect 283 kilometres of wild dog proof vermin fencing, and sourcing of materials through a local supplier.
"The whole 1100-1300km of the State Barrier Fence is also being patrolled each month by the same teams of Aboriginal contractors that came out of that project."
