More help is on its way for the critically endangered Kuranda tree frog.

Community organisation Kuranda Envirocare is launching a new project, surveying more creeks and training extra volunteers thanks to a recently announced Engaging Science Grant from the Queensland Government.

The new initiatives come on the tenth anniversary of the organisation’s ‘Frog-Friendly Waterways’ citizen science program, and at a time when the Kuranda tree frog is facing ongoing threats from urbanisation and related changes to creek hydrology.

Monitoring with acoustic recorders

Project coordinator Edward Bell said acoustic recorders would be used to bring more creeks into the monitoring program.

“These will enable us to survey larger and more remote areas, ensuring we have the best available information on where the Kuranda tree frog is surviving,’’ he said.

About the Kuranda tree frog

The Kuranda tree frog, or Litoria myola, is only known to live in a handful of creeks that flow into the Barron River. Discovered in 2007, its biggest threats are habitat clearing along creek lines and hydrological disturbances to creek beds.

Kuranda Envirocare president Cathy Retter said volunteers had been regularly monitoring frog populations for nine years with researchers from James Cook University, and also working with landholders to revegetate creek lines in key areas for the species.

Revegetation work

“More than five kilometres of creek and riverbanks have been successfully revegetated, and this will continue into the future,’’ she said.

“With our new project, we are looking forward to working with more volunteers and training them in the use of detectors and water quality monitoring equipment, and in analysis of acoustic data.”

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.