CASSOWARY habitat at Wangetti Beach will be rehabilitated in a collaboration between Terrain NRM, Douglas Shire Council and Indigenous rangers.
DOUGLAS SHIRE COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
DOUGLAS Shire Council started preparation work at the site using a Bio Condition Assessment Tool designed to measure the change in vegetation condition for projects funded under the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program (NLP).
The revegetation project is funded through Terrain NRM’s Building Rainforest Resilience project. This project includes:
- revegetation work
- a landholder incentives program
- community grants, and
- ways to reduce cassowary deaths and injuries on roads
Council’s Biosecurity Team Leader Brad Everett said the project was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with rangers to rehabilitate littoral rainforest.
“We believe through weed removal and revegetation, we can help cassowaries by improving the extent, condition and connectivity of their habitats,” he said.
Council staff are working with the Yirrganydji Indigenous Land Sea Rangers, who have strategies for managing littoral rainforest and coastal vine thickets between Port Douglas and Palm Cove, to share knowledge and create a long-term investment for the preservation of this unique part of coastline. This will evolve into a strong working relationship to increase the frequency of future environmental restoration projects.
Douglas Shire Council’s Biosecurity Team Leader, Brad Everett
Mossman Nursery staff are preparing native tree species for numerous revegetation projects scheduled throughout the Shire. More than 300,000 native trees have been distributed since the nursery started recording revegetation projects in 2000.
Most plants are grown from locally collected seeds to ensure genetic integrity.
Did You Know?
TERRAIN NRM is committed to improving rainforest habitat in priority areas that are home to the endangered southern cassowary and to Mabi forest and littoral rainforest. These are both critically-endangered ecological communities.
In Australia, the southern cassowary is only found in North Queensland, and Mabi forest is unique to the Wet Tropics region. This region is also home to Australia’s most extensive littoral rainforest. Current projects build on work undertaken by Terrain NRM over a number of years to protect these species and other endangered species.
Terrain have established strong working relationships with community conservation groups. The success of these projects comes down to the community’s firm commitment to protecting endangered species, coupled with scientific research and local knowledge.
Partners include the Cassowary, Mabi Forest and Littoral Rainforest Recovery Teams. These teams include Traditional Owners, community group representatives, landholders, scientists and representatives of local, state and federal government agencies. As part of this project, Terrain has established a Rainforest Recovery Network to bring together all three recovery teams to share knowledge.
