Sunshine Coast Conservation Futures #6

 RESTORED NATURE

It is difficult to be a birder or a naturalist and not be concerned with that most potent of symptoms of environmental degradation – the endangerment and extinction of species.

In Australia we have legislation that is designed to recognise and protect endangered species.

The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act [EPBC Act] provides for the listing of nationally threatened native species and ecological communities, native migratory species and marine species.

The EPBC Act protects Australia's native species and ecological communities by providing for:

• identification and listing of species and ecological communities as threatened
• development of conservation advice and recovery plans for listed species and ecological communities
• development of a register of critical habitat
• recognition of key threatening processes
• where appropriate, reducing the impacts of these processes through threat abatement plans

Now it is important to have legislation that requires this, although I am worried about the ‘where appropriate’ stipulation….

One of the issues of Endangered Species legislation, ignoring the problem that politicians get involved in the process for reasons that are rarely to the advantage of species conservation, is that it seems to imply that we should only ‘rush to the safety of the species when it is almost too late’. I for one hope doctors do not use this approach when saving me from extinction.

The other is that it is a state determination of whether something is endangered or not. So, from the perspective of local authorities, if a species is endangered within the context of your local area but is common elsewhere it is all good to allow its extinction [in your local area] and therefore trust the species survival to others elsewhere. 

There has been some excellent work on threatened species here on the Sunshine Coast and, encouragingly, it has been led by community aided by government.

In the Mary River specific management efforts have been made to reduce the fortunes of both the Mary River Turtle and the Mary River Cod.

The Mary River Turtle is a strange turtle; it is one of several species of cloaca-breathing turtles, which breathe underwater using specialised glands in their reproductive organs. This allows individuals to remain submerged for up to 72 hours.

The Mary River turtle is a large freshwater turtle endemic to the Mary River in Queensland, Australia. Remarkably, this turtle was kept as a pet in Australia for more than 20 years before its formal description as a new species.

This turtle is highly distinctive, both morphologically and evolutionarily. The only species in its genus, the Mary River turtle diverged from all other living species around 40 million years ago. In comparison, we split from our closest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, less than 10 million years ago.

Unfortunately, the Mary River turtle is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List following precipitous declines since 1970. The Mary River Turtle takes an exceptionally long time to reach sexual maturity, with individuals not breeding before the age of 25. The building of dams and collection of eggs for the pet trade have driven the declines in the species. However, conservation programmes are now in place to protect the species.

Here on the Blackall Range, and other places, the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly has felt the impact of community led conservation efforts to increase the numbers of that species.

The Richmond birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera richmondia) is the largest subtropical Australian butterfly.  It was once abundant from Maryborough in southern Queensland to Grafton in northern New South Wales, breeding in rainforest habitat wherever the food plants were plentiful.  Much of this land was eagerly sought after for grazing and subtropical agriculture due to its rich soils. In 1870 the butterfly was reported in newspapers as occurring in the thousands on the streets of Brisbane, but by 1926 natural history enthusiasts noticed a massive decline in the south, west and east of the city.   https://www.facebook.com/RichmondBirdwingConservationNetwork

Since 1990 active conservation projects involving members of the community, particularly schoolchildren, were initiated to address the threatening processes that had led to the decline in numbers and distribution of the birdwing. 

In 2008, the Department of Environment and Science, along with the RBCN and David Fleay Wildlife Park, began a joint project to help conserve the Richmond birdwing butterfly using a captive breeding and release strategy. Under the breeding program, Richmond birdwings from geographically separate sources have been mated with the aim of producing more genetically diverse offspring. These captive-reared progenies have been reintroduced at selected sites to help restore wild populations. Following the first releases in 2010, evidence of natural breeding by the butterfly and more than a dozen flying adults were seen in the Kin Kin and Cootharaba areas of the Sunshine Coast for the first time in almost two decades.

Since the program was initiated, more than 350 Richmond birdwing individuals, mostly larvae and pupae, have been reintroduced across nine sites in south-east Queensland.

In May 2018, the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust generously donated £500 to the RBCN to put towards the acquisition of vines to support the Richmond birdwing captive breeding and release project. 

In 2019 the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust further provided a small grant to Wildlife Queensland to assist in the captive breeding and release of the Richmond birdwing in eastern Australia, complementing the support being given by local communities and government.

Anecdotally the numbers of Birdwings in my area around Mapleton have increased since I moved in in 2002 – largely I expect because of the growth in vine plantings.

The Glossy Black Cockatoo is a threatened species that survives on the Sunshine Coast. Federally it is listed as endangered while Queensland lists it as vulnerable. Threatening processes include, I imagine, availability of nest hollows and habitat fragmentation, specifically a reduction of Allocasuarina trees which provide for the bird’s specialised diet. There has been some great work in the Noosa area combatting a development that further threatens valuable feed trees. This effort further publicises the specie and its needs. Planting of feed trees all over the Sunshine Coast and, perhaps, judicial placement of nest boxes hopefully will assist this specie’s recovery.

To be anti those developments which have conspicuous cost for biodiversity is one thing, however we must encourage new types of natural land use that encourage the growth of biodiversity. So rewilding projects. Perhaps the simplest rewilding project is to take an area of land; say a farm that has been managed exclusively for beef production and change the management, in part or total, to promote biodiversity.

Rewilding is a form of environmental conservation and ecological restoration that has significant potential to increase biodiversity, create self-sustainable environments and mitigate climate change. Rewilding aims to do this, in part, by reintroducing lost animal species to natural environments.

Rewilding is I believe an exciting development because it about creating or re-creating ecosystems.

Please read one or all of the following books to try to get excited about rewilding and its possibilities.

Check out the RewildingEurope website or this promotional video to see what it is happening there.

The private conservation group Australian Wildlife Conservancy is rewilding here in Australia; returning arid land species that have been hammered by cats and foxes and asked to compete with herbivores too many times larger than them. Their plan? Build large fenced feral free reserves and reintroduce the mammals. These spaces, free from cats, could only benefit our birds too – providing relatively safe havens [with only snakes and hawks to worry about…..]

AWC runs Newhaven in the NT. This reserve was established when Newhaven Station, a pastoral cattle-grazing property in the arid zone of the Northern Territory was purchased by Birds Australia in 2000 from the then owner, Alex Coppock, in order to conserve its outstanding natural values. Newhaven's landforms include parallel dunes, salt lakes, claypans, plains and rocky hills. Vegetation includes grasslands, woodlands and shrublands, which can be subdivided into ten distinct vegetation communities, with over 100 species of plants recorded. Several threatened species of birds and other animals have been recorded on Newhaven. These include the grey falcon, night parrot, princess parrot, striated grasswren, grey honeyeater, mulgara, black-flanked rock-wallaby, greater bilby, marsupial mole and great desert skink. In December 2005 Birds Australia signed an agreement with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) that saw AWC assume ownership and day-to-day financial responsibility for Newhaven, while allowing for Birds Australia to have long-term involvement in the management of the reserve, Birds Australia members to have access. Now the AWC has created a large [10 000 hectare initially before being expanded into a 100 000 hectare] fenced feral free reserve and have reintroduced or will reintroduce the following species; Bilby, Mara (Rufous Hare Wallaby), Numbat, Black footed Rock Wallaby, Central Rock Rat, Shark Bay Mouse, Brush tailed Bettong, Burrowing Bettong, Golden Bandicoot, Western Quoll and Red tailed Phascogale. I am yet to find any information about just how these feral free areas have worked for bird populations located naturally in the same areas, nor any data regarding reptile numbers and / or breeding. You would expect that these species could only benefit from the reduction of unnatural predation.

Could fauna on the Sunshine Coast be better protected with clever and innovative use of fencing?

Could previously extant species be returned and rewilded?

What information could be acquired from these ‘experiments’?

As AWC’s work has shown fencing helps Australian species live and breed far more easily than when they do not have unnatural predators nearby.

On the Sunshine Coast we have cats and foxes and we have vulnerable [in terms of threatened status] small to medium sized marsupials that are vulnerable to predation. Such mammals include Long nosed Pottoroo, Koala, Greater Glider, Hastings River Mouse and the Spotted tailed and Northern Quolls. These last two species have not been sighted on the Sunshine Coast for some time.

Perhaps we need some fenced reserves to attempt to ensure that these threatened species do not become extinct?   

A variety of fenced feral free reserves – where any of the above species have been recorded especially on land already owned by Council – should be established. The cost of fencing these type of conservation reserves no doubt will decrease over time as more methods and materials are tried. Conservation volunteers should be available for this exciting conservation work.

 Long nosed Potoroo, Rufous Bettong, Dunnarts, Antechinus spp, Native rodents, Swamp Wallabies, Bandicoots, Possum and glider species [of which the coast has several] would all benefit from having core fenced feral free reserves where these species could hopefully thrive without increased ‘artificial’ predation rates. As discussed feral free reserves could only assist other small reptiles, birds and frogs. They could also be an excellent way to promote the greater Sunshine Coast area’s environmental bona fides in addition to other environmental assets.

More fencing needs to be used to stop another major predator of our wildlife; cars. The population of larger marsupials; the Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Swamp Wallaby, Red necked Wallaby, the locally uncommon Whiptail Wallaby would only benefit from being fenced from major roads. Fencing may also prevent some of their predation from dogs?

The last emu was killed by dogs on Bribie Island a few years ago leaving Grey Kangaroos – its Coat of Arms companion still extant. Could coastal emus be returned into fenced habitat to allow their survival on the Sunshine Coast? I think it is a question worth thinking about. Fencing off a considerable chunk of Bribie Island and exploring the possibility of lands adjacent on the mainland could protect a small self-sustaining population of our country and our coast’s largest birds. This reserve could also benefit other coastal species. Would anyone care to join SCEAG? The Sunshine Coast Emu Action Group or Save Coastal Emu Action Group?

Allow me to continue dreaming… Brush tailed rock Wallabies on the Glasshouse Mountains? How cool would that be? Could we deal with a fenced feral free area around all or part of the Glasshouse National Park estate? Could we eliminate the feral cats and foxes therein? How much would it cost? What other mammal species could be brought back into a fenced feral free area so located? What birds could be re-introduced? What reptiles?

Brush tailed Rock Wallabies are a threatened species that prior to foxes and cars would have utilised available habitat within range from the ranges to the sea. It would be impossible to imagine that they did not utilise the Glasshouse Mountains and adjacent areas of Blackall Range. Making these animals potentially visible to visitors from nearby Brisbane would benefit both the animal’s prestige and promote fencing and rewilding as conservation methods. Species such as Rufous Bettong, Koala, perhaps Long nosed Potoroo, as well as Bush Stone Curlew, White throated Nightjar would benefit. Perhaps the iconic Frilled neck Lizard would benefit as well? Elimination of feral species would not be easy and fencing would not be cheap but the biggest challenge would be political..  

I appreciate the difference between a large fenced sanctuary and a zoo is an arbitrary one however these species would be being introduced into areas where they were once extant. Their environments would be being, albeit in a minor way, restored. We would be educating the public, hopefully delighting them, and correcting the Shifting Baseline Syndrome which we discussed earlier.

There are a range of other species on our coast and hinterland that deserve not only dreaming but detailed plans for their survival – Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Koalas – spring to mind. As does the Eastern Bristlebird.

These are conservation conversations for another day…

Ken Cross

All of the above is merely personal opinion and dreaming and NOT the perspective or policy of Birdlife Australia.