Cassowary crossing hotspots on Mission Beach roads are now safer for the endangered birds and for drivers.

Weeds have been replaced with cassowary food plants under the bridge at Wongaling Creek on the El Arish-Mission Beach Road and tall roadside grass is being regularly slashed and brush-cut at ‘Garrett’s Corridor’ on the Tully-Mission Beach Road.

Cassowaries crossing under bridge

Terrain NRM’s Tony O’Malley said the changes made it easier for cassowaries to cross under the bridge and avoid the busy road, and also more appealing for them to take that route, while at Garrett’s Corridor it was easier for cassowaries and drivers to see, and avoid, each other.

“James Cook University’s recent cassowary vehicle strike social research project showed us we can’t just rely on raising awareness in the community to reduce cassowary strikes – we have to change the roadside environment too,’’ Mr O’Malley said.

“So we formed a working group of Cassowary Recovery Team members and local organisations to investigate and agree on actions to improve safety for drivers and cassowaries at two crossing hotspots.”

Drivers interviewed to learn about collisions

In the James Cook University study, drivers were interviewed about collisions with cassowaries and roadside camera footage was examined for a better understanding of both cassowary and driver behaviour.

Researcher India Marshall said most drivers thought the accidents weren’t due to their driving, although some people who witnessed collisions suggested otherwise.

“The videos showed some careless driving but also variable cassowary reactions to vehicles, making it hard for drivers to prepare for interactions,” she said.

“Drivers suggested that driver education would be effective. We can’t rely solely on education to reduce strikes though, so changes to road environments are also needed, such as replacing weeds and hazardous trees at crossing zones with low-growing native plants.”

Working with community group C4 

Terrain NRM recently engaged Mission Beach organisation ‘C4 – Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation’ to improve the vegetation at two cassowary crossing hotspots, as part of Terrain’s Building Rainforest Resilience Project. This project is supported by Terrain, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

The Cassowary Credit Scheme has reached a new phase in its development, with field testing at more than 30 revegetation sites now happening across the Wet Tropics region.

New funders on board

Terrain NRM’s Bronwyn Robertson said new co-funding from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia was welcomed as the biodiversity market scheme progressed to an on-ground testing stage.

Designed by Terrain NRM, the scheme will enable Far North Queensland land managers to generate tradable units of habitat restoration, known as a ‘Cassowary Credits’, which will be sold on environmental markets to investors ranging from philanthropists to governments and corporates.

Ms Robertson said Cassowary Credits focused on restoration of Far North Queensland tropical rainforest habitat. She said up to 50,000 hectares of land had potential to be part of the scheme.

“This is land that’s considered unsuitable for agriculture based on soil type, slope or closeness to watercourses,’’ she said.

Team work to design new ecosystems services market scheme

Terrain NRM has been working with private industry, government, scientists, indigenous groups and wildlife experts to design and develop the new ecosystem services market scheme.

Ms Robertson said the new funding would also be used to build regional capacity for larger scale restoration projects and to incorporate Accounting for Nature methodology into the scheme to widen its scope to include carbon projects with environmental co-benefits.

Two days, 270+ passionate, knowledgeable people and a lot of work to do… With growing concerns about the number of threatened species in our region – from cassowaries, golden-shouldered parrots and sawfish to Mabi rainforest and ant plants – it’s no surprise that the recent North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium was a sell-out.

Held in Cairns, the event brought together conservationists, scientists, traditional owners, natural resource management organisations and government representatives to share everything from learnings, challenges, project news and the latest research to cultural knowledge, monitoring methods and recovery team achievements.

The focus was also on funding needs, maximising funding opportunities and, most importantly, collaborative actions that’ll make an impact.

Long-term investment needed

Terrain NRM CEO Stewart Christie called for long-term investment in a nature repair economy: “The Australian Government has committed to a nine-year funding program for the Great Barrier Reef. State governments commit to 10-25 year road programs. We’d welcome similar thinking about investment in the environment and the many natural resources that sustain our regional economy – from tourism to construction – as well as our lifestyle and wellbeing. What we need is combined 20-25 year programs – long-term commitment and investment that is bi-partisan.”

The symposium was full of people who devote their lives to saving threatened species and ecological communities, in paid or volunteer capacities or in both. Because many people and groups focus on a specific threatened species, they often work in silos. So the level of networking at the event was high, and was great to see.

“People were announcing new opportunities or talking about challenges during presentations and later coming to us saying they’d had the chance to talk to Queensland and Australian Government representatives or had made useful recovery team contacts. And government representatives were able to gather a lot of feedback about things like bioregional planning and nature repair markets.”

Thank you supporters and sponsors

The North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium was hosted by the NQ NRM Alliance (Terrain NRM, Cape York NRM and Gulf Savannah NRM) in partnership with the Australian and Queensland governments. It was supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and the Queensland Government, as well as sponsors: the Wet Tropics Management Authority, The Nature Conservancy, Bush Heritage, the World Wildlife Fund, Centre for Tropical and Environmental Sustainability Science, Queensland Water and Land Conservation, Biosphere Environmental Consultants, the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, Up North and Skyrail Foundation.

Some of the good news included:

• New ‘Priority Place’ listing: The ‘Eastern Forests of Far North Queensland’ was recently listed by the Australian Government as one of 20 priority places for threatened species recovery under the Threatened Species Action Plan. At the Symposium, recovery teams and land use planners talked about sustainable solutions for both conservation and development.
• Mabi Forest: A new ‘Reforest’ initiative will revegetate an area near Wongabel State Forest that was logged. Reforest has launched an app, with the support of the tourism industry, so businesses and their customers can invest in local regenerative efforts that’ll  contribute to drawing down carbon.
• Cassowaries – Wet Tropics & Cape York: A Cassowary Recovery Plan will go out for public comment soon. The Wet Tropics cassowary population appears to be stabilising. The recovery team is cautiously optimistic: “We believe the numbers are now stable but we need to ensure they remain stable”. On the Cape, there is new knowledge about cassowary populations. After 40 years with no recorded sightings, cassowaries were detected in 2018 and sightings continue. Actions include the development of a cassowary management plan, traditional fire management, pig and cattle management in cassowary country and indigenous ranger training.
• Indigenous ranger program: This program is continuing to expand, building capacity in First Nation organisations.

Twelve new projects are helping to improve and connect rainforests from Bloomfield to Cardwell and west to Wondecla.

Landholders, traditional owners and threatened species recovery groups are embarking on tree-planting, weed control and habitat protection initiatives through a ‘Building Rainforest Resilience’ project focused on nationally significant rainforest areas.

It’s part of Terrain NRM’s vision to build one strong, healthy and intact forest system in the Wet Tropics region.

Working with landholders in priority areas

Terrain’s Tony O’Malley said 300 landholders – with large properties beside world heritage areas and within the region’s top-six cassowary corridors or with Mabi or littoral rainforest refugia – had been invited to be part of the project.

One of the latest grant recipients is the Gunggandji-Mandingalbay Yidinji Peoples Prescribed Body Corporate (GMYPPBC).  The Gunggandji-Mandingalbay Yidinji rangers will be removing weeds, including lantana, giant bramble and guava, from cassowary habitat on Aboriginal land within the GMYPPBC Trustee area in Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire east of Cairns.

Rangers Cadmas Sands and Justin Keyes said the work area was around a traditional walking track used for trade.

“It’s part of our story but nobody’s done work there for years. We want to clean up the weeds. We’ll give it our best to get it back to where it was. This funding allows our generation to go back on more country and work and buy materials and protect our country.”

Mr O’Malley said the work was right on the edge of the rainforest and would help the forest recover the area, through natural regeneration, once rangers removed the weeds.

Supporting Traditional Owners

“The Gunggandji-Mandingalbay Yidinji Peoples PBC manages 8,200 hectares of Aboriginal land and it’s one of the biggest coastal forests in the region,” he said. “This is about supporting the Traditional Owners to keep a large habitat patch in good condition.”

Have you had experiences with cassowaries on roads in the Mission Beach region? India Marshall would love to hear from you to create a missing link in data about driver safety and the endangered southern cassowary.

The James Cook University student is speaking with people who’ve had collisions, near misses or other encounters with cassowaries on our roads for a new study designed by the university, CSIRO, Terrain NRM and the Cassowary Recovery Team to gain a better understanding of how to prevent more incidents.

Drivers encouraged to tell their stories

There have been 22 recorded cassowary strikes over the last two years, many of them in the Mission Beach area.

“We’re being told there is stigma around incidents like this but talking about it is the best way for us all to learn more about how to improve things,” India said.

“Cassowary conservation groups and road managers have been working on the issue of road strike in Mission Beach for many years, however understanding the cassowary and vehicle traffic interactions has been limited in the past by a lack of information from drivers.

Bridging the gap in information

“We’re hoping to bridge this gap by creating an anonymous space where people can share their untold stories.”

For the next couple of months, she is interviewing people who drive in the Mission Beach area.

Terrain NRM’s Tony O’Malley said the goal was to fill gaps in information about cassowary strikes.

“In the past, the response has been to put up more signs, change the speed limit or a section of road design,’’ he said.

“This project will give people a chance to confidentially get their story out, to increase our collective knowledge and ability to come up with actions that work for people and cassowaries.

Four Far Northern enterprises have together won a Queensland award for exploring ways councils can help protect habitat for threatened species.

Planz Town Planning, Kelly Reaston Development and Property Services, Terrain NRM and the Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (FNQROC) have won the Planning Institute of Australia’s Queensland Award for Excellence in Improving Planning Processes.

Judges commended the teamwork involved in “all parties stepping outside their usual networks and cross-collaborating to bravely go beyond traditional planning measures”.

See the ‘The Role of Local Government in the Preservation and Recovery of Threatened Species and Ecological Communities’.

Terrain NRM’s Tony O’Malley said local governments were playing a valuable role in threatened species habitat protection.

“This project was all about bringing together the region’s local government town planners, threatened species recovery teams and traditional owners to share knowledge on the region’s threatened species and on local government’s possible roles in protecting their habitats,’’ he said.

“The initiative was funded by Terrain NRM and managed by local government and their consultants, making the outcomes a great fit for local government delivery.”

The award-winning project includes 11 recommendations for greater involvement by local government, and it identifies possible partners and resources.

FNQROC’s executive officer Darlene Irvine said the project laid out a clear vision for the region.

“By stepping outside traditional land use planning approaches, it gives direction to the entire spectrum of community and local government efforts and actions in the species recovery space, and it will be of great value in guiding future investment and action,’’ she said.

The project is part of Terrain NRM’s Building Rainforest Resilience Program, which is working with landholders, threatened species recovery groups and all levels of government to improve rainforest habitat in priority areas which are home to endangered southern cassowaries, Mabi forest or littoral rainforest.

Indigenous students in the Wet Tropics are being encouraged to apply for a grant to help with studies and future employment opportunities in environmental and agricultural fields.

Terrain NRM’s Natural Capital Fund Indigenous Education Bursary Program is open to students studying natural resource management, environmental studies, sustainable development, agriculture or conservation at university or TAFE.

Tamieka Barlow, one of two successful applicants in 2021, is studying a Bachelor of Environmental Practice at James Cook University. She received a $3000 grant through the fund.

“It has really helped me with my studies. I’m glad this has been created to help students who want to work on Country get to where they want to go,” she said.

“I found the application process really easy and I’ve also found that Terrain genuinely cares about me. They’ve provided ongoing support and opportunities to be involved in events and to meet people who work in the sector.”

Terrain NRM’s Natural Capital Fund director Rhiannon Simcocks said the bursaries were about encouraging more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to become future leaders in natural resource management.

“It’s incredibly important for us to recognise the connection between young indigenous people and Country,’’ Ms Simcocks said. “We want to help support students to further their studies and provide a stepping-stone for careers in natural resource management.

National park areas at Crater Lakes and Wooroonooran have been connected following a community revegetation blitz.

Tablelands residents Elaine and Michael McAuliffe have joined a growing number of private landholders who are hoping to conserve key forest habitats in the Wet Tropics. Located in a priority wildlife corridor used by endangered rainforest species, including the Southern Cassowary, the couple has received a Rainforest Resilience Grant through Terrain NRM to revegetate their property and help connect national park areas.

The grants are part of Terrain’s Building Rainforest Resilience project, which supports willing landholders and threatened species recovery groups to improve or protect important habitat. Activities include revegetation, weed management and habitat protection. This project is supported by Terrain through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Terrain’s Rainforest Leader Tony O’Malley said the program is aiming to reconnect and buffer large fragmented areas of habitat.

“We are working closely with threatened species recovery teams which are advising us on the grants process,” he said.

“The Cassowary Recovery Team, for example, has identified six priority corridors in the Wet Tropics and much of the land is outside protected national park or world heritage area. We offer landholders in those corridors resources for conserving and improving their patches of rainforest.”

The McAuliffes had already planted more than 6,000 trees on their ex-dairy farm block since buying it in the 1980s, and they used Terrain’s grant money to engage local contractor Mark McCaffrey for more revegetation work with support from local landcare group, Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands (TREAT).

“Lots of the revegetated parts of the property now look like natural forest. Unfortunately, I did get some bad advice back in the ’80s and there was a section where I planted 1000 Caribbean pines, which aren’t the right thing at all, and they all blew over in a cyclone,” said Mr McAuliffe.

“For years I’d been thinking about filling in the area where the pines fell in so when I found out I could apply for a Rainforest Resilience Grant I grabbed the opportunity with both hands… I’m 80 years old now and reveg is hard work on the knees and back so I’m glad to have the support! I was inspired by the work being done on the western side of Lake Eacham, connecting the Crater Lakes and Wooroonoonan.”

Cassowary-friendly plants are growing underneath a new railway bridge near Tully, thanks to a partnership between Queensland Rail and local organisations.

Native groundcovers and food shrubs of the Southern Cassowary were planted in December at a replacement bridge at Big Maria Creek in the Smiths Gap area.

Queensland Rail, Terrain NRM and C4 representatives inspected the new plantings recently.

“Smiths Gap is a hive of activity at the moment, with overtaking lanes and a cassowary land bridge being built by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, as well as fencing to lead cassowaries to Maria Creek as a complementary crossing place,’’ Terrain NRM’s Tony O’Malley said.

“So this revegetation project by Queensland Rail is invaluable. This is a cassowary corridor that links Mission Beach with the Atherton Tablelands rainforest.

“With state and local government, conservation groups and the cassowary recovery team all working together, we’ve got a planting outcome that works for cassowaries now and into the future, and one that also meets rail requirements.”

Southern Cassowaries are only found in North Queensland and Papua New Guinea, and they are an endangered species in Australia.

Queensland Rail’s Renee Madden-Hallett said working together was the key.

Far Northern landholders who love their patch of rainforest are signing up to conservation agreements to better protect it in the future.

Long-time Kuranda resident Susan Doherty is one of them – she recently sold her land with “peace of mind” after placing a conservation agreement over it after help from Kuranda Envirocare and Terrain NRM.

“I’ve been surrounded by beautiful regenerative rainforest for 28 years and during that time I’ve constantly seen people buying blocks in this area and dropping trees,’’ Ms Doherty said.

“I want to make sure that doesn’t happen on this piece of land. It’s well worth preserving.”

Kuranda Envirocare is helping landowners to apply for voluntary declarations – agreements under the Queensland Government’s Vegetation Management Act that protect areas of privately-owned native vegetation with high conservation values.

The organisation’s Cathy Retter said the movement was gaining momentum.

“We’ve helped with five voluntary declaration applications recently and we have interest now from another six landholders,’’ she said. “Kuranda is at a bottleneck in the world heritage area, with just a narrow corridor connecting the northern and southern parts. Every piece of habitat counts.

“A lot of freehold land here has the same values as the world heritage listed rainforest, but it’s not protected in the same way. Through this project, we’ve already found one of the best examples in the area of a kauri forest ecosystem.”

Kuranda Envirocare received a grant from Terrain NRM through its Building Rainforest Resilience project to work on the voluntary conservation agreements with interested landholders and an independent botanist. The Building Rainforest Resilience project focuses on habitat protection, revegetation and weed management work in priority areas for cassowaries, Mabi forest and littoral rainforest.

Kuranda Envirocare’s work complements an earlier grant for Kuranda Conservation Community Nursery to cover the cost of rainforest assessments for landholders seeking higher-level nature refuge status.