What’s the best action for us to take to improve our threatened ecological communities?
We have four in the Wet Tropics region that are nationally listed as threatened – Mabi forest on the Atherton Tablelands, lowland rainforest and littoral rainforest from Bloomfield to Ingham and broad leaf tea-tree woodlands between Tully and Ingham.

Terrain NRM has received $2.25 million in funding from the Australian Government to help in the recovery of these ecological communities, so we’ve been holding workshops with people who specialise in each of them, and who manage the land in areas including these habitats.

Terrain is also co-hosting workshops on wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest uplands because they’ve recently been identified by scientists as priority ecosystems in the Far North as well.

Designing projects – from invasive species to tree-planting and fire management 

We are working with partners to design a series of on-ground projects. They will include feral animal and weed control work, revegetation work, wildlife-friendly fencing and fire management. They could also include helping willing landholders with voluntary conservation agreements for their properties.

The people involved include threatened species recovery group members, scientists, traditional owners, other land managers and representatives from local, state and federal government agencies.

We’ve completed four workshops – in Cairns, Cardwell and Atherton. The other two are coming up soon – on littoral rainforest and upland rainforest.

These workshops, and upcoming on-ground projects, are part of the “Forest Resilience – Improving Condition of Eastern Forests of Far North Queensland (Wet Tropics bioregion) Through Strategic Collaborative Action” project. It is funded by the Australian Government’s Saving Native Species program.

Taking an eco-system approach to projects

Terrain NRM’s Tony O’Malley says taking an ecosystem approach is important.

“We won’t just be focusing on one species– this project has an entire ecosystem approach for the benefit of all the species living there.”

Consultant Steve Skull, who was part of the broad-leafed tea-tree woodlands workshop, agrees that’s important.

“It has been fantastic to see how many people are engaged in work linked to woodlands, and to see how much better understood its importance has become over the years. We now know just how many important species and processes these woodlands support and it is good to see they are getting some much-needed attention.”

Carla Catterall who is part of the wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest upland workshops and is a professor in ecology and environment at Griffith University and a member of the Wet Tropics Management Authority’s Scientific Advisory Committee, says combining local knowledge and scientific principles is important.

Forests from the coast to the mountain tops are the focus of a new $2.25 million project in the Wet Tropics region.

The eastern forests of Far North Queensland have become a ‘priority place’ in the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan, leading to a new forest resilience project funded by the government and led by Far North not-for-profit environment organisation Terrain NRM.

Tackling threats to forest ecosystems

The two-year project will tackle threats to forest ecosystems and will include feral animal and weed control work, revegetation, wildlife-friendly fencing, fire management and working with willing landholders on voluntary conservation agreements.

Tony O’Malley, from Terrain NRM, said over 2000 hectares of habitat resilience work would be funded, with planning workshops currently happening across the Wet Tropics region.

“We are partnering with scientists, Traditional Owners, land care and threatened species recovery groups, local, state and federal government, and other land managers,’’ he said.

“We will be supporting work in broad leaf tea-tree woodlands between Tully and Ingham, Mabi forest on the Atherton Tablelands, in lowland rainforest and in littoral rainforest from Bloomfield to Ingham. All of these types of forest are listed nationally as threatened ecological communities.

“We will also be working in tall open forest (wet sclerophyll) and rainforest uplands which the scientific community recently identified as Far North Queensland’s top two priority ecosystems. Our focus will be on threatened species in those ecosystems.

Improving the condition of whole ecosystems

“All of these strategic activities will be guided and delivered by stakeholders to improve the condition of whole ecosystems and increase the resilience of our forests to current and future threats, including a changing climate.

“For example, our broad leaf tea-tree woodlands are listed as endangered and are also home to the endangered mahogany glider, to rare ground orchids and the Apollo jewel butterfly as well as many other plant and animal species. We won’t be just focusing on one species – we’ll be taking an entire ecosystem approach for the benefit of all the species living there.”