The results are in from wildlife cameras in creekside trees on cane land south of Ingham – and the good news is that mahogany gliders have been recorded.

In amongst several thousand images, two mahogany gliders were seen in trees in the early hours of the morning.

Terrain NRM’s Evizel Seymour says the cameras were up for six weeks.

“We saw one mahogany glider at about 3am on four or five nights. It was active in a thin corridor of trees bordering a creek and cane land, a place where they haven’t been recorded on camera before. We saw another mahogany glider once, at a creekside area further north.”

Importance of riparian vegetation as wildlife corridors

The trees are part of a thin corridor connecting the ranges with the coast in the Bambaroo-Yuruga area, and installing cameras was the first stage in a project to improve mahogany glider habitat in that area.

Terrain NRM is partnering with Hinchinbrook Shire Council to clear vines and woody weeds from creekside vegetation to create a functional green corridor for mahogany gliders. These elusive marsupials are only found between Tully and Ollera Creek, north of Townsville, and they are listed as endangered. Their favourite kind of habitat, broad-leafed tea tree woodlands, is also listed as endangered.

“This project follows monitoring work and research in the last few years to learn more about mahogany gliders, the boundaries of their habitat, where the remaining small populations live, how their genetic health is going and how we can best help them to survive,’’ Terrain NRM’s Evizel Seymour says.

“The area we are working in now is known to have a small population of mahogany gliders, thanks to the monitoring work over the last three years. That’s exciting because it’s largely cane land and because it’s close to Paluma and Halifax Bay national parks. If we can better link areas it’ll be a big help to these gliders.”

Wildlife-friendly fencing includes alternatives to traditional barbed wire fencing. Barbed wire is hazardous to native wildlife causing:

• Wildlife deaths or injuries from entanglements and collisions
• Barriers to safe passage to important habitat and resources.

There are now fencing options available that can minimise risks to wildlife while still being effective for farming, and many landholders are adopting these new solutions.

In short: To make fencing wildlife friendly, the top strand of fences should not be barbed wire. It’s even better when the top two strands are not barbed wire. 

The next time you are investing in fencing, consider:

Replacing the top strand with barbless double-strand twisted wire

The top wire of a fence is the most dangerous for wildlife. Barbed wire and wildlife-friendly barbless wire use the same kit for installation, so it costs the same and cattle can’t break it.

Straight/plain wire can also be used but it needs different tools for installation. Twisted barbless is a straight swap.

Replacing the top two strands with barbless double-strand twisted wire.

Use only three or four strands total (depending on your stock). This helps the passage of cassowaries and tree kangaroos.

Not ready to replace your fencing?

If you’ve only recently installed your fencing you can adapt it to make it more wildlife friendly by making the top strand more visible. You can either paint the top strands of wire white or add materials that move in the wind (wide white electric fence tape is effective in hotspot sections).

Alternatively you can place poly pipe (preferably white) over sections of the fence where animals have become entangled in the past. It needs to be secured with cable ties to prevent cattle stripping and eating it.

Other options

Electric fencing and virtual fencing (neckbands) are effective ways to control livestock whilst being safe for wildlife.

What to avoid

Five strand wire is the worst for wildlife – much better to use four-strand wire.

Mesh fencing (often used to contain dogs) prevents wildlife from moving through habitat. If you need mesh, consider creating a passage for wildlife by fencing only part of the block.

Indigenous ranger Chris Muriata has only ever seen a mahogany glider in the wild once.

“To finally see one – it made me happy,’’ he says. “It was in vegetation at the southern end of a glider pole array we were monitoring at Lily Creek near Cardwell. We’ve been working on mahogany glider projects for years – since Cyclone Yasi in 2011 when we put den boxes and cameras in trees. More recently we’ve been part of monitoring programs. Still, to actually see one of these gliders is rare.”

Clearing vines and woody weeds

Chris and the rest of the Girringun Indigenous Ranger crew have been working with Terrain NRM to install more cameras – this time as part of a new mahogany glider program focused on clearing vines and woody weeds from forested areas along creeks in cane land south of Ingham. It will also be building on glider population monitoring work begun four years ago.

Linking the coast with the foothills

Terrain NRM’s Evizel Seymour says the aim of the latest project is to link coastal patches of mahogany glider habitat to foothills in national parks via vegetated waterway areas.

“We want this to be a functional corridor for mahogany gliders,’’ she says. “This is a new project in amongst a tapestry of projects that have helped mahogany gliders by increasing woodland habitat and bridging gaps in habitat through tree-planting projects, installing glider poles at roads and replacing the top two strands of barbed wire in farm fences with barbless wire so gliders don’t get caught up in them.

Cameras to build on glider monitoring work

“There has also been monitoring work and research to learn more about this species – to better understand the boundaries of mahogany glider habitat, the locations of small populations of gliders and how their genetic health is going.”

An endangered species

Mahogany gliders are listed as endangered and are only found between Tully and Ollera Creek, north of Townsville. The last population estimate – 1500 to 2000 – was based on surveys from 1994 to 1996, before the woodlands they live in were battered by Cyclone Yasi.

Based on early findings from the new glider monitoring program, which is in its third year, the latest project is at Yuruga and Bambaroo south of Ingham, where small populations of mahogany gliders live in narrow strips of woodland bordering waterways and farmland close to Paluma and Halifax Bay national parks.

Terrain NRM is partnering with Hinchinbrook Shire Council for the weed control and habitat improvement work, and with Girringun and Nywaigi Indigenous Rangers and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service for habitat and glider monitoring work to assess the project’s impact.

Mahogany gliders have been captured on camera at three sites between Tully and Townsville as recovery team members start a new phase in their work to save this endangered species.

The elusive little gliders have been spotted in bushland on the Cardwell Range and further south at Bambaroo as part of a five-year monitoring program to learn more about mahogany glider populations and how many remain in the wild.

Sixty cameras, five weeks, a photo every three seconds…

Terrain NRM’s Jacqui Diggins said 60 cameras were attached to trees for a five-week period by teams from Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, James Cook University, NQ Dry Tropics NRM and Terrain NRM.

“These cameras take photos every three seconds. We set up 20 cameras in a quadrant at three different locations where mahogany gliders have been recorded during research over the last 15 to 20 years.

“The aim is to do this for five years at the same locations, with the same methods and at the same time of year so we can detect trends in the glider population.”

Mahogany gliders are only known to be between Tully and Ollera Creek, north of Townsville. The last population estimate for this endangered species was based on survey data collected from 1994 to 1996. It was estimated that between 1500 and 2000 mahogany gliders remained. Then their habitat was battered by a severe tropical cyclone in 2011.

Monitoring key populations through time

Mrs Diggins said cameras had been used over the past two years, along with catch and release trapping to take tiny tissue samples, in a bid to better understand the boundaries of mahogany glider habitat, populations and genetic health. The work was part of a Terrain NRM project funded by the Australian Government, and was also James Cook University research led by PhD student Eryn Chang and Professor Conrad Hoskins.

The results have laid the foundations for the current population monitoring program.

A tropical island with ideal habitat for the endangered mahogany glider is a new focus in species recovery efforts.

Researchers recently installed wildlife cameras in the forests of Hinchinbrook Island – one of Australia’s largest island national parks – as part of the first population survey since Cyclone Yasi hit the region in 2011.

The elusive gliders are known to live in patches of woodland between Tully and Ollera Creek, north of Townsville, but their numbers are unknown, with the last count at just 1500 to 2000 before the cyclone tore through their habitat.

The first population survey since Cyclone Yasi

Terrain NRM’s Andrew Dennis said field officers were working with James Cook University researchers to explore just beyond these areas – at Hinchinbrook Island, Mission Beach and Balgal Beach – where habitat modelling work had shown quality mahogany glider habitat.

Twenty cameras were installed for six weeks in three different woodland areas on Hinchinbrook Island recently, returning no mahogany glider footage but recording sugar glider action in the final hours before they were taken down.

“It’s tantalising because sugar gliders are a smaller glider which is often in the same forests as the mahogany glider,” Dr Dennis said. “We’ll be setting up cameras on the island again.”

Learning from tissue samples

James Cook University researcher Eryn Chang has also been using cameras on the mainland, along with catch and release trapping. Her team has so far taken tiny tissue samples from the ears of 22 mahogany gliders, to better understand populations and their genetic health.

“Mahogany gliders are very difficult to catch – some nights we record nothing or we see sugar or squirrel gliders and no mahoganies,’’ she said. “It’s a slow process, to build up data, but one that’s important for this species.”

Mission Beach, Balgal Beach areas part of survey

Cameras were also installed recently in an ant plant nature refuge between Mission Beach and Tully and at both Balgal Beach and Clement State Forest near Townsville.

James Cook University tropical biologist Dr Conrad Hoskin said looking for populations of mahogany gliders within the known distribution areas, and also beyond them, was the first step.

Tiny pieces of ear tissue could be the key to saving the endangered mahogany glider.

Scientists are catching and releasing gliders in Tropical Far North Queensland so they can learn more about the species, its genetic health and the best conservation actions for recovery.

JAMES COOK UNI RESEARCHERS WORK WITH TERRAIN

A team from James Cook University is working with Terrain NRM to capture footage of the elusive gliders on monitoring cameras and to also catch them in wildlife-friendly traps during night field trips in woodland between Tully and Townsville.

Researcher Eryn Chang said a recent trip to a small patch of woodland north of Townsville had been surprisingly successful.

“We caught six mahogany gliders in one night. That hasn’t happened before in my work. Some nights we record nothing, or we see sugar or squirrel gliders and no mahoganies. It’s a slow process, to build up data, but one that’s important for this species.”

EAR TISSUE COLLECTED FOR GENETIC TESTING

Gliders are weighed and measured before a tiny sample of ear tissue is collected for genetic testing.

“This gives us the fine details of each individual so we can determine genetic diversity. With enough samples, we can also determine the size of the population, whether populations are connected and whether the species is genetically healthy.”

Mahogany gliders are only found in North Queensland. The last population estimate, of between 1500 and 2000, was in 2010 – the year before Tropical Cyclone Yasi tore through critical glider habitat in the Tully and Cardwell area.

“It’s now critical that we understand how well our gliders are recovering from that devastating blow, and that there are still enough habitat connections in the landscape to keep the population healthy,” Terrain NRM’s Andrew Dennis said.

Terrain is working with scientists as part of a broader project that also includes tree-planting on private land and controlled burns in glider habitat – to keep woodland thickening from reducing glider movements in the little habitat they have left. The ‘Biodiversity Hot Spots – Tackling Woodland Threats’ project is supported by Terrain NRM through the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

NEW POPULATION FIGURES 

Dr Dennis said new population figures were an important part of the initiative.

“We need to check that the gliders still occur across their full former range, and then, using James Cook University’s sophisticated genetic techniques, check that gliders are moving from one place to another to keep their populations viable,” he said.

“Understanding this will help us to determine which areas are the best ones to replant trees in, to create corridors connecting different parts of their habitat.”

James Cook University tropical biologist Dr Conrad Hoskin said species distribution modelling had been used to work out where to install the cameras and night-time traps.

Hundreds of trees are being planted on a property where a mahogany glider was rescued from a barbed-wire fence – to become the face of an endangered species that is struggling for survival.

‘Warrami’ the glider was found entangled in barbed-wire 11 years ago and spent months recovering with wildlife carers. A tropical cyclone then ruined his chances of a quick release into the wild when it destroyed glider habitat in the Tully-Townsville region – but this led to an unusual and heart-warming turn-of-events.

Wildlife carers Daryl Dickson and Geoff Moffatt were given special permission to introduce Warrami to a female glider, also recovering from barbed-wire injuries, and the pair bonded and produced two young before being released into recovering glider habitat two years after Warrami was first brought into care.

At the tree-planting event recently, Ms Dickson said it was wonderful to see the place where Warrami grew up and to help increase glider habitat on the property.

Mahogany gliders are listed as ‘endangered’ and are only found in a fragmented strip of woodland between Tully and Ollera Creek, south of Townsville. The tree-planting event is one of several happening on grazing properties to connect sections of woodland as part of a $1.5 million project being delivered by Terrain NRM through funding from the Australian Government.

Terrain’s Jacqui Diggins said the property, located south of Tully in an area known as Warrami, was at an ecological pinch-point where rainforest formed a barrier to gliders between national park and farming land.

“In the past, the woodlands would have continued through areas like this around the national park where the habitat changes to rainforest, but they were cleared for farming,’’ she said. “This property is an ideal connection point. We’ve planted 600 trees, and another 2000 will go into the ground to connect glider habitat to the north and south.”

Mahogany gliders can glide up to 30 metres on average. It’s often not far enough in cleared land, with barbed top wires the most common reason gliders come into care.

“Replacing top wires and connecting relatively small sections of land can make a huge difference,” Ms Diggins said. “It helps gliders to move between habitat areas for feeding and it also helps in the flow of genes for this species.”

Property owners Deb Van Beek and Royd Blunden say the support they are receiving to recreate glider habitat has been invaluable.

They’re female, they’re indigenous and they’re fired-up about caring for country.

An all-women crew of Girringun rangers is leading by example in the Wet Tropics, conducting controlled burns and encouraging teenage girls to step into less-traditional cultural roles.

Girringun Ranger, Cindy-Lou Togo and four other female indigenous rangers were the fire power behind a recent cool burn at Cardwell to reduce fuel loads and improve conditions for endangered mahogany gliders.

“These are mosaic burns that don’t touch the canopy and don’t burn everything,’’ Ms Togo said. “When you return you can see grass trees that are still green, and opportunities for new growth.”

Terrain NRM’s Jacqui Diggins said the cool burn, on seven hectares of unallocated state land, was the second this year in a series of controlled burns for ecological and hazard reduction reasons in an area from the Hull River near Tully to Crystal Creek north of Townsville. They are part of a larger project, funded by the Australian Government, to improve woodlands in mahogany glider country.

The project also supports Girringun Aboriginal Rangers to take a larger role in caring for country through land management and, with Fireland Consultancy’s Justine Douglas as mentor, it provides an opportunity for more female rangers to step into leadership roles.

Ms Togo has been a Girringun Ranger for 10 years, and has loved seeing the number of women increase in the group.

“I always liked being outdoors and I thought this would be something different, when I applied for the role,’’ she said. “Now I have a chainsaw licence, a drone licence, a Certificate III in Conservation and Land Management, a coxswain ticket and more. All these tickets I never imagined I’d have…

“We visit schools and correctional centres to show there’s a pathway. We’re learning from our elders on the land, learning from others and passing those learnings on to the younger generation.

“For this burn, Evelyn Ivey was the IC and she did a good job stepping up into that role.”

Hundreds of trees are being planted to help the endangered mahogany glider.

Crews of tree-planters are extending wildlife corridors between Tully and Townsville – the only region in the world that this glider calls home.

Terrain NRM’s Jacqui Diggins said the work was being done on private land to connect sections of woodland, as part of a five-year project benefitting mahogany gliders and other threatened species including ant plants and broad-leafed tea tree.

Two hundred native trees were planted on a Bilyana property, just south of Tully, this week and there have also been trees planted on grazing land north of Townsville.

“This is a real collaborative effort with landholders and groups including the Girringun Aboriginal Rangers, Herbert River Catchment Group, Cassowary Coast and Hinchinbrook Council nursery staff and volunteers,’’ Mrs Diggins said.

The ‘Biodiversity Bright Spots -Tackling Woodland Threats’ project is supported by Terrain NRM through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. It also includes mahogany glider population monitoring work and controlled burns in glider habitat.

Mrs Diggins said mahogany gliders could glide for about 30 metres on average.

“Sometimes connecting relatively small sections of land can make a huge difference,’’ she said. “It can help gliders to move between habitat areas for feeding and the flow of genes.”

The last population estimate for mahogany gliders was 1500 to 2000, and this was before Cyclone Yasi wreaked havoc in glider habitat between Cardwell and Tully.

Bilyana property owners Steve and Lisa Roeger said it was great to be part of the project.

“By planting select native trees along a fence line, we are linking two sections of existing woodland mahogany glider habitat,” Mrs Roeger said.