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.”

Do you want to know more about our new project to reduce threats to the critically-endangeed mountain-top nursery frog? Terrain NRM project leader Dr Andrew Dennis spoke with ABC Far North recently about a project that’ll lead to pig-exclusion fencing around known frog-breeding sites, pig control measures and species monitoring work.

Two thousand square metres of high-altitude rainforest will be fenced off to protect the critically endangered mountain-top nursery frog from feral pigs at Mt Lewis, west of Port Douglas. This frog is one of the most range-restricted on the continent. Terrain NRM is partnering with traditional owners, researchers and other groups on this project and Terrain’s Dr Andrew Dennis is with us to explain how pigs are threatening this frog’s existence at altitudes you wouldn’t expect.

Can you describe what these mountain-top nursery frogs look like…
Well, first of all, they’re tiny. They are about 17mm long – so less than two centimetres in length. They are mottle-coloured, so they blend into the leaf litter really well. The only way you detect them is by hearing the calls of the males. They’ve got a really distinct rattling sort of call that they emit in the wet evenings on those high mountain tops.

They are critically endangered, which means we’re concerned they could become extinct. What makes them so susceptible to extinction?
Firstly, they have a tiny distribution. When they were first found, they were only on a few ridge tops, about 1100m high in the cloud forests – very damp, moist, dripping forests. So that small distribution means anything that happens in that little area could impact the species. Secondly, climate change and global warming are probably the biggest threat. Mountain-top nursery frog breeding sites used to be common at 1100m, but they’re becoming less common there, and they’re more common at 1300m now. As it warms up that little bit, it seems that they might be moving up, but there’s not much we can do immediately on the ground for that. The other thing that’s happening is feral pigs are moving in bigger numbers. Back in the 1990s, a researcher suggested that the pigs might be damaging some of this frog’s habitat and eating some of the adult frogs when they turned logs. In the last five years or so, pig numbers have really exploded and there’s a lot more damage going on in those forests.

We know that pigs are rampant through the lowland rainforest. Why do we think they’re becoming increasingly problematic through the upland or high-altitude rainforest as well?
The evidence is there. Normally when you walk in these high altitude, really wet forests, you’re walking on a spongy mulch of leaf litter and you don’t actually see much soil. But now the pig numbers have got to the point where pigs are turning it all upside-down, and there’s a lot of muddy patches and wallows and broken-up logs where the pigs have pulled them apart looking for beetles and beetle larvae. With a few good wet years up here in the Wet Tropics the pig numbers are increasing everywhere. In the lowlands they’re increasing and they’re also increasing up the mountains. They’re learning to tolerate those colder high-altitude conditions.

In some areas feral pigs are much easier to target and tackle than others. This is pretty inaccessible terrain on Mt Lewis. How will it be done?
It’s dense rainforest and really tricky terrain. We know where the frogs are breeding and where their main breeding sites are because of some work by James Cook University students and lecturer Conrad Hoskins. So we can map the area. But we can’t fence off the whole area that these frogs might breed in. What we are doing is setting up 20 plots. Each one is ten metres by ten metres. For a tiny, less than two-centimetre frog you can actually fit quite a lot of individuals into that space. We are keeping the pigs out of those. And what we’ll have to do is very carefully bring in fencing materials and star pickets and build these fences under the rainforest canopy. The fence has got to keep pigs out but it also needs to allow the native animals to move in and out.

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.

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.

The endangered northern quoll’s survival prospects have received a boost, with a new project in areas of Far North Queensland where they have survived the invasion of cane toads.

Five organisations will work together on activities including artificial dens for quolls, genetic research and controlled burn programs. Terrain NRM has teamed up with Gulf Savannah NRM, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, James Cook University and Western Yalanji traditional owners to deliver the project at Brooklyn Station Nature Refuge north of the Atherton Tablelands.

The new project will trial conservation methods. This project received grant funding from the Australian Government’s Environment Restoration Fund.

Northern quoll numbers dropped dramatically when cane toads spread through northern Australia. Only found in Queensland, Western Australian and the Northern Territory, the quolls have disappeared from most of their range in Queensland and over half their range in the Northern Territory, while fast disappearing in Western Australia as well. Populations have also been affected by feral cats and habitat loss and change.

“Like a range of other native animals, quolls eat cane toads and are poisoned, and with their short life span and their annual male die-off the population is particularly vulnerable,’’ Terrain’s Dr Andrew Dennis said.

“Some populations, like the one at Brooklyn Station near Mt Carbine, have managed to survive cane toads. It’s possible they’ve learned not to eat them. Now we want to foster their recovery in these areas and expand their home ranges.”

Artificial dens, previously only used on rehabilitating mine sites, will be installed just beyond known quoll home ranges, and surveillance cameras will be set-up.

“If the dens are successful in drawing quolls back out into flat savannah land, they may be a useful tool to reconnect isolated populations of quolls,” Dr Dennis said.

James Cook University researchers, with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, will build on current genetic sampling projects which have found northern quolls are now divided into four distinct genotypes and their genetic diversity declines in isolated populations within each area.

James Cook University’s Dr Conrad Hoskin said with isolated populations there were important genetic considerations to include in conservation efforts.

“Population declines, coupled with lack of gene flow between populations, can lead to issues such as inbreeding,’’ he said.  “The genetic component of this project will help us to better understand where we need to connect populations or possibly improve genetic resilience with translocations.”

Australian Wildlife Conservancy wildlife ecologist Dr Manuela Fischer welcomed the opportunity to research one of the last remaining populations of a species that has declined significantly since the introduction of the cane toads.

“It’s great to be collaborating on a project that will enable us to better understand the northern quoll population on Brooklyn Wildlife Sanctuary and across Far North Queensland,” Dr Fischer said.

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.

At least seven northern bettongs have been killed by road strike on far northern roads in the last two months, placing additional pressure on an already stressed population.

The endangered macropod is under threat from habitat degradation, which is why Terrain NRM’s Dr Andrew Dennis says the latest news is so concerning.

“Given the small population size and restricted distribution, every individual counts. Almost 1% of the remaining core population has been killed by vehicles this year, and there are likely to be additional road kills not observed, so this percentage could be even higher.”

The road strikes have occurred on the Kennedy Highway between Clohesy River and Davies Creek, and on the Danbulla Road near Tinaroo Falls Dam.

The Northern Bettong Recovery Team is currently in consultation with the Department of Main Roads and Transport about the road kills and mitigation.

Dr Sandra Abell chairs the Northern Bettong Recovery Team and is urging drivers to exercise caution.

“We know that night driving is unavoidable for many people, but if it’s safe to do so, please slow down if you see an animal crossing the road. We cannot afford to lose more bettongs,” said Dr Abell.

Two out of four northern bettong populations have disappeared in the last 25 years, and the species is now restricted to two locations: Mt Spurgeon in the Carbine Tablelands, and between Koah and Tinaroo in the Lamb Range. Estimates put the total population at around 1000 individuals.

Aside from the road kills, Dr Dennis says the Lamb Range population is generally doing well: “Most habitat is in protected areas, and lots of groups have worked hard over the last 20 years to remove threats like feral animals and weeds”.