David Bowman makes a strong case for employing Aboriginal people to manage their own land and to reinstate traditional fire practices in Australia (Nature 482, 30; 2012). This strategy could form the basis of a coordinated, long-term conservation service.

It would also provide desperately needed employment for landowners, as well as supplying them with a reliable source of protein from hunting feral animals (N. Collier et al. Hum. Ecol. 39, 155–164; 2011).

In addition, the Aboriginal people, who have a deep spiritual connection to land, would be able to remain on their traditional territories and so maintain close functional relationships with their ancestors.