Revegetation in the Wet Tropics needs to be scaled up quickly to absorb carbon and restore habitat for our plants and animals, particularly in refugia areas in future climate scenarios. However, money is the main barrier because cleared land can be used to generate an income from farming and also because it can be costly to establish and maintain biodiversity plantings, particularly in the Wet Tropics.

So, a project funded by Terrain’s Natural Capital Fund explored whether biodiversity plantings could earn money as carbon farms as a way to incentivise more revegetation.

The basic criteria for carbon sequestration are that projects have to:

• be planted on land that was cleared and then grazed, cropped, pastured or left fallow for at least 5 years (i.e. not recently cleared)
• establish and maintain trees that have the potential to grow to a height of at least 2 metres
• establish a crown cover of at least 20 per cent.

While biodiversity plantings meet these criteria and easily exceed the height and canopy cover requirements, the costs involved in registering a planting as a carbon farming project means that revenue needs to be fairly high to offset the costs. This would be possible if:

• the method used to measure the amount of carbon sequestered in a planting calculated high sequestration from biodiversity plantings, which therefore earned a lot of carbon credits
• the price of carbon credits was high
• the additional biodiversity values of biodiversity plantings attracted a higher price.

Through this project Terrain supported TREAT to run a pilot carbon farming project to analyse the costs and economic outcomes under different scenarios. The Freeman’s Forest project was registered in 2017 and TREAT volunteers planted 5000 native tree seedlings over 1.6 hectares.

A fire that burnt through world-heritage rainforest has made the Wet Tropics a barometer for climate change and a testing ground for rainforest recovery practices.

Rainforest fires are unusual – so the forest near Silkwood has become a learning area for botanists, researchers and natural resource management specialists who want to be prepared for a hotter, less predictable future.

Terrain NRM is working with the Cassowary Coast Regional Council on a revegetation and weed control project in council reserve bordering Japoon National Park, where the wildfire moved up a ridge and continued burning for 10 days in late 2018.

Terrain’s Tony O’Malley said some areas had been taken over by invasive weeds, which could potentially threaten rainforest recovery.

“We are funding the council to replace fire-promoting weeds with fire-retarding rainforest trees at the entrance to the park,’’ Mr O’Malley said. “The goal is to strengthen the park’s resilience to fire and weed invasions.”

The two organisations are also monitoring the rainforest’s regrowth by surveying sites for the next four years as part of the project.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council’s Damon Sydes said guinea grass, Siam weed, lantana and giant bramble had prospered in the five-hectare reserve since the fire.

“We began by selective spraying right across the reserve in early 2020 and then planting native rainforest trees, from Council and Queensland Parks and Wildlife stocks, in strips bordering Nyleta Rd,’’ he said.

“The trees are growing well and there’s a bit of a seed bank from the forest that’s still there so there has been natural regeneration too. This is an experiment to see if we can accelerate the rainforest’s self-repair.”

Iconic fish species including Jungle Perch, Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and Tarpon will have a better chance of survival and growing their populations in the Murray and Lower Herbert Basins thanks to a new $5 million project announced by Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley.

The project, to be delivered by Terrain NRM, will focus on improving the condition of upstream wetland and nursery areas and on removing barriers that stop juvenile fish moving from spawning areas in the estuaries to nursery areas upstream.

Terrain NRM CEO Stewart Christie said the coastal areas south of Tully to Hinchinbrook include nationally significant wetlands and pockets of endangered coastal ecosystems that are home to an array of bird species as well as fish.

“While both the Murray and Lower Herbert catchments are relatively intact, they are at risk from weeds, feral pigs and other threats, and these need to be managed effectively to maintain the health and condition of these valuable ecosystems.

“We will be working with a large number of partners in the delivery of this project including farmers, landholders, traditional owners, Local Government and local community organisations. The first few months will involve detailed planning and consultation with scientists as well as Traditional Owners and landholders with knowledge of the local landscape.

“Some of the activities that we’ll be undertaking include managing weeds and feral pigs, addressing fish barriers, improving management of drains and farm creeks and getting the community involved in activities such as ‘Adopt a Creek’ or ‘Adopt a Wetland’.”

The Wet Tropics has the highest diversity of fish in Australia with over 80 recorded species. While the habits of many species are not well known it’s estimated that up to 50 per cent of these species need to move between freshwater and estuarine environments for spawning and larval development.

A dream of getting Mabi rainforest off the ‘endangered’ list is a step closer for Tablelands residents.

Barron Catchment Care volunteers are planting more rainforest trees – this time 2000 of them in state forest previously used for pine plantations.

The group’s acting coordinator Sheryl Fitch said it was exciting to see the trees growing so strongly.

“They were planted in April and some are already waist-height,’’ she said.

“Months ago, there was head-height guinea grass, lantana and tobacco bush there. This started out as a pretty daunting project with the land the way it was and with coronavirus, but somehow we’ve managed to beat the odds.”

When a community tree planting was cancelled because of coronavirus restrictions, the group dug into project funding to engage NQ Land Management Services for the spraying and planting work. The project is part of a larger ‘Rebuilding Rainforest Resilience’ program supported by Terrain NRM through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Terrain’s Tony O’Malley said only four per cent of original Mabi forest remained.

“It’s a critically endangered rainforest ecological community that’s only found on the Tablelands in North Queensland, mainly in Curtain Figtree National Park and Wongabel State Forest. What is left is highly fragmented and just under half of it is on freehold land.”