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Eurong Nursery Gives Bush Regeneration a Boost
FIDO’s July bush regeneration working bee planted more than 100 new native plants in the Eurong Resort grounds and village. While more than 20 of these plants came from the Kingfisher nursery on the western side of the island, the project wouldn’t have been possible without the rejuvenation of the QPWS eastern Eurong nursery. The availability of a functioning nursery to meet the demands of residents and bush regenerators has challenged FINIA since its founding in 2005.
BioBlitz Bonus!
The BioBlitz has attracted interest from an unexpected quarter. The Fraser Coast RATs (Regional Artists and Tutors) are are keen to cover the BioBlitz as a community-based arts projects, A representative of the group describes their plans: “Members of this award winning contemporary artists group have multi discipline art practices and a common goal to engage the public with regionally based arts projects. We work closely with Fraser Coast community organisations on projects as diverse as ‘Art in empty shopfronts’ to community Street Art commissioned by Fraser Coast Council.”
Fraser Island to be BioBlitzed by Scientists
Led by FIDO, a huge Fraser Island (K’Gari) BioBlitz from 28 November to 4 December will bring together experts from many areas of biology to carry out a stocktake of the natural resources of the World Heritage island.
Based at the Dilli Village Fraser Island Research and Learning Centre, the BioBlitz is being well supported by the University of the Sunshine Coast, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and FINIA.
The study area extends from the ocean beach to Lake Birrabeen, covering all six dune systems and encompassing most ecosystem types from heathlands, tall forests, swamps, fens and perched dune lakes except for the estuarine environments. It is hoped to achieve more by maintaining a tight and intense focus on this particular study area rather than an island wide hunt.
The study area is very accessible with a number of tracks through it that will allow scientists to easily access representative places of interest.
Sustainable Transport Study for Fraser Island (K’Gari)
For almost a year, FIDO and QPWS were at an impasse over FIDO’s proposal to fund a feasibility study into the building of a light rail from Kingfisher Resort to Eurong. The QPWS saw four major impediments to them supporting such a study, while FIDO remained alarmed at the down-cutting of the fragile sand roads, with the scoured out sediment ending up in other locations.
Down-cutting along 0.5 km of Woralie Track between the eastern edge of the rainforest and the turnoff to Lake Allom has carved a canyon 2 m deep. Thousands of tonnes of sand have been relocated downslope from these cuttings
FIDO estimates that, on average, every visitor to Fraser Island travelling by any form of 4WD (including buses) is responsible for stirring up more than a tonne of sand that will be scoured downslope when it rains. Some of this ends up in Fraser Island’s precious lakes. FIDO has long been calling for a stop to the unnecessary stirring up of surface sand and, for 42 years, has been advocating a light rail alternative to 4WDs.
A meeting with Environment Minister Steven Miles on 11 April helped to resolve the stalemate between FIDO and QPWS. It was resolved that the environmental impact of road down-cutting on K’gari needs to be urgently addressed. The agreed outcome was that FIDO will commission and pay for an independent ‘Sustainable Transport Options for Fraser Island (K’Gari)’ study. This study will explore all options, including light rail, to reduce the current environmental impact of visitation.
In 2002, a study by Gutteridge Haskins & Davey Pty Ltd (GHD) on K’Gari found:
- Moderate severity smothering: 6% of road network
- Moderate down-cutting: 7% of road network
- High-severity siltation: 8 sites
- Cultural heritage site: 1 site impacted by roads
- High-severity smothering: 1% of road network
- Severe down-cutting: 2% of road network
- Moderate severity siltation: 12 sites
Using money from the Barbara Winkley bequest that FIDO anticipates to receive in the near future, FIDO will seek to revive the GHD study commissioned in 2000 by the QPWS that was halted prematurely in 2002 just as it was nearing a critical conclusion. The now proposed study will, among other things, update the 2002 information to determine how the state of K’Gari’s roads has changed in 15 years.
John Sinclair (AO), FIDO
Fighting Triffids
Peter Shooter continues to lead his teams of FIDO volunteers in their never-ending war against the very aggressive and invasive African subspecies of Abrus prectorius.
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A BioBlitz for Fraser Island
A BioBlitz on Fraser Island (K’gari) has moved a few steps closer to reality with FIDO setting the proposed dates for the Blitz as 28 November – 4 December 2016. However, before FIDO can launch the promotion for the BioBlitz, which is supported by FINIA, the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, supplementary funding is required to engage a coordinator to liaise with scientists and other participants and retrieve the vital data collected. At this stage, FIDO is only issuing advance warning to alert people to the proposed BioBlitz event: Beach to Boomanjin and Birrabeen.
Details of Beach to Boomanjin and Birrabeen
Fraser Island (K’Gari) is inscribed on the World Heritage list because of its biological, geomorphological and aesthetic values; however, much more biological research is needed to know the extent of K’gari’s natural resources, with a BioBlitz of a discrete part of Fraser Island standing to add greatly to the ecological understanding of this site.
The BioBlitz, which is to be based at Dilli Village, aims to bring together teams of entomologists, botanists, ornithologists, zoologists, herpetologists and other specialist groups (fishes, fungi, etc.) to scour the study area. Each team will develop its own program and modus operandi. It is expected that the team leader will be responsible for compiling a report of the team’s findings to add to the existing data banks being built at USC.
FIDO is seeking to appoint a coordinator before this project can proceed. The coordinator will recruit specialist scientists from a range of disciplines to study the defined research area, which covers a diversity of habitats, to develop an inventory of the natural resources and species within that area. FIDO will also recruit volunteers as necessary to assist scientists and specialists logistically.
The study area includes samples of all six dune systems, including Dune System 4 east of Lake Birrabeen and Dune Systems 5 and 6 in the vicinity of the Boomanjin airstrip. In addition, the area includes three large perched dune lakes, two creeks and a number of old swamps, as well as various forest types. It will be a broad transect of a wide range of ecotypes, from the beach through the foredunes and the freshwater aquatic environments of Govi and Gerrawea Creeks. It will also enable comparison between mined and unmined areas in both the foredune and hind dune areas. It will include the large peat swamp, with its flarks and fens, never before studied in detail.
The proposed study area will include a diverse range of ecotypes, including all 6 dune system types
Dilli Village has accommodation for up to 60 people, as well as a large camping area and 24-hour 240V power, which may be needed for some equipment. It also has a large meeting area. There will be opportunities at Dilli Village each night for the various teams to compare notes and share observations of their field work.
John Sinclair (AO), FIDO
Work Continues on George Haddock Track
Track clearing was done manually, with little assistance other than from battery-operated chainsaws to deal with larger tree-falls across the track
Over the 2016 Easter weekend, 16 volunteers helped to honour FIDO’s obligation to maintain the George Haddock Track. The team cleared 17 km of track of fallen timber and major regrowth. During 2014, FIDO and National Parks Association of Queensland volunteers cleared 22.7 km of walking tracks along former logging tracks and roads in nine different sections of the 52 km George Haddock Track, supported by a Friends of Parks grant. No maintenance had been done since October 2013, except for a little clearing between Lake Coomboo and Hidden Lake.
During these latest clearing efforts, the swathe of cleared ground around the Harold Charles Barracks was greatly extended by stripping away regrowth and accumulated fallen debris. This will provide critical infrastructure with a greater safety margin from potential fires. It also created a larger flat area for campers participating in future working bees.
John Sinclair (AO), FIDO
Call for Volunteers to work on K’gari, Second Half 2016
FIDO has been conducting week-long working bees to tackle the urban weeds of Fraser Island for more than a decade. With support of other organizations aiming to improve the natural integrity, FIDO is determined to bring the urban weeds in the townships of Eurong and Happy Valley under control. (more…)
Fraser Island to Benefit from Commonwealth Funding for Green Army Projects
The Fraser Island Defenders Organization has been provided with funding as Project Host as a result of Green Army funding for two projects from the Department of Environment and Heritage. The service provider for these projects will be Conservation Volunteers Australia.
The project, Restoring the balance in weed and erosion management on Fraser Island, will commence in late February and again in mid-August and run for 20 weeks. The six participants will range from 17 to 24 years old, and will be provided with training, including Occupational Health and Safety, First Aid, chemical use and the management of small motors. They will gain hands on skills in weed management, erosion control and will be fortunate to have advice and information from the QPWS rangers who will direct the work plan.
The participants will have their training at Hervey Bay and spend four days a week on Fraser Island working on different parts of the island. Other potential work may include:
- Easter Cassia management around Happy Valley and south to Yidney scrub
- Jamella – egg raft collection (and wasp release if training were provided), monitoring and leaf stripping
- Giant Rat’s Tail Grass control
- Eurong nursery – plant propagation and re-potting, including of Pandanus
- Great Walk track maintenance
- Track building
- Site stabilisation through erosion control and weed management on Indian Head (Takky Wooroo).
The project provides a unique opportunity to have work carried out on Fraser Island over the period of a year that would possibly take many years otherwise.
The team will work with a number of different groups on the island, including the Butchulla people, to learn about the culture and management of the island.
Libby Gardiner, Regional Manager Southern Queensland, CVA
Propagating Natives instead of Weeds
Since Fraser Island’s World Heritage nomination was prepared 25 years ago, the number of identified weeds has grown from 40 to 200. Most of the additions to the weed list are garden escapees or alien grasses and pasture plants.
Most of these alien grasses and pasture plants have arrived on K’Gari as hitchhiking seeds stuck in the under-bodies of vehicles that haven’t been cleaned adequately before going to the island, or in the luggage and freight brought inside those vehicles by island visitors. This is evident by the fact that the epicentres for the invasion of almost all of the grasses and pasture plants, such as Green Panic and Siratro, are in the township or camping reserves. By diligence, we are whittling away at these weeds that arrived essentially as stowaways.
A more difficult challenge is countering the weeds that were deliberately taken to Fraser Island as garden plants. Landholders sought to establish hardy plants that could thrive on the island with little care or attention when they were absent for long periods. Thus they came up with a group of plants that were ideal to survive if they got loose in the Fraser Island bush. Roses and many of the more classic garden plants just can’t survive on Fraser Island. However, garden plants like Clivias, Coral Creeper, Singapore Daisy, Easter Cassia, Mother-in-Law’s Tongues, Glory Lily, Mother of Millions and Fish-bone Ferns, which looked attractive around the houses and required little care, all escaped their garden enclosures and ran riot on the island. Because these plants are so hardy they are now very difficult to eradicate.
Coolum-based volunteer, Suzanne Wilson, gathering seed for the Eurong QPWS nursery. These are attractive plants that can be grown by Fraser Island landholders
Landholders are being encouraged to plant and cultivate attractive native plants. However, sourcing those plants has been a major problem. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has a nursery, but lacks the staff to operate it as a supplier of plants on demand to landholders who are told not to take any plants at all onto the island.
Now, as another FINIA collaboration, FIDO and the Fraser Island Association are building up a stock of plants to entice landholders to opt to grow natives that are grown from seed collected on the island, and which, with a little tender loving care to establish them, can do just as well as the weeds we are working to eliminate. As well as purchasing pots and other nursery supplies, FIDO has been scrounging cleaned used pots and recruited a very experienced seed collector to help build up the nursery.
The resorts at Eurong and Happy Valley have set the tone by purging their properties of weeds and establishing wonderful rich gardens of natives. FIDO is prepared to cooperate with other landholders to replace exotic plants with plants from the Eurong Nursery as part of a long-term strategy to reduce weeds on Fraser Island.
John Sinclair (AO), FIDO
FINIA 