Landscape
In June 1998 the Bush Heritage Australia purchased a 593 hectare property near Emerald in central Queensland. "Goonderoo" is located in the heart of central Queensland's brigalow belt biogeographic region. The property was on the market and liable to be cleared for agriculture. It contains nine distinct vegetation associations, listed below, including brigalow woodlands and native grasslands, classified as endangered.
The grasslands and woodlands of the property are in good condition and provide good quality habitat for a wide variety of species. Comprehensive seasonal flora and fauna surveys show that the bird surveys indicate that the property supports a diverse avifauna. The previous owner of the property, Frances Spooner, provided a list of the wildlife observed there over the years. It includes large numbers of sugar gliders, brush tailed possums, koalas, rat kangaroos, swamp wallabies, euros, grey Kangaroos, echidnas, and dingoes; occasional sightings of short-nosed banidcoots, ring-tailed possums, red necked wallabies and (but not recently) bilbies. She also observed 142 bird species including emus, brolgas and bustards; various lizards, geckoes, skinks and goannas; and ten species of snake including pythons and tree snakes.
Temperate woodlands once covered a vast tract of eastern and south-western Australia. Today only 10-15% of the entire woodland system remains in any form, much of which is severely degraded. The heart of the woodland ecosystem has been replaced by Australia’s agricultural production areas, namely wheat and sheep. Within Queensland the woodlands are represented by Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) woodland or savannah woodland, which now comprises about 10% of their original extent.
Because of the unique environment found in woodlands, they are inhabited by a distinctive group of woodland dependent species. These species have evolved in response to the long growing season, year-round availability of food, the preponderance of eucalypts and associated habitat components such as abundant tree hollows, peeling bark, nectar and other carbohydrates, the grassy ground layer and the open structure of the vegetation. Woodlands also provide habitat for many migratory species and refuge for inland species during times of drought. As a result of extensive clearing, the abundance of woodland dependent birds has declined dramatically and a number of species have become rare or extinct.
Within Queensland there are a number of woodland dependent or woodland associated species which are threatened, including Painted and Regent Honeyeaters, Black throated Finches, Square-tailed Kites, Grey Falcons, Malleefowl, Glossy Black Cockatoos, Pink Cockatoos, Powerful and Masked Owls.
Despite their limited extent woodlands continue to be cleared. In Queensland the average annual tree clearing rate between 1991 and 1995 was 262 000 ha (2620 km2) per year, or 0.15% of Queensland’s land area. Clearing rates are highest in central Queensland, in particular in the brigalow belt biogeographic region where 53% of Queensland’s annual vegetation clearing is occurring. In this region 1388.3 km2, or 0.38 % of the region was cleared each year.
Goonderoo, located 40 km south of Emerald, is in the heart of central Queensland’s brigalow belt biogeographic region.
Photo Wayne Lawler / Ecopix