Reedy Creek Reserve - Bush Heritage Australia

Reedy Creek Reserve, home to an intact patch of endangered Queensland coastal forest, has some very special neighbours.

One of them, the Loggerhead Turtle, is among the biggest marine turtles on earth, and regularly comes in from the Coral Sea to nest on nearby beaches that Bush Heritage manages. Another is the rare Grey Goshawk, which has been spotted within the reserve.

Broad-leaved Paperbark (Meleleuca quinquenerva) overhanging Deepewater Creek. Photo Carl Moller.

And then there are the most recent arrivals: people who've joined a nearby residential project that underpins our conservation work here.

Called [email protected], it's part of a 600-hectare coastal strip bought by Michael Myer in the 1990s.

A quarter of the land was kept for housing and shared areas of native vegetation, the rest was donated to Bush Heritage to protect as a nature reserve. Residents pay a levy that funds management work – a superb example of how humans can help our non-human neighbours.

What Reedy Creek protects

This reserve protects a very rare thing – intact Queensland coastal and riparian forest. Elsewhere it's been dramatically cleared for development. These significant species and communities are found on the reserve and adjacent foreshore that we help manage:

A Beach Stone-curlew on land adjacent to Reedy Creek. Photo Wayne Lawler/EcoPix.

Animals

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Beach Stone-curlew, Grey Goshawk, Barking Owl, Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Northern Brown Bandicoot, Little Red Flying Fox, Giant Burrowing Cockroach and marine turtles (Loggerhead Turtle, Flatback Turtle, Green Turtle).

Plants

Lobelia Nummularia, Broad-leaved Paperbark, Silver-leafed Paperbark, Swamp Mahogany, Ribbon Fan Palm, Pink Bloodwood, Moreton Bay Ash, Wallum Banksia.

Vegetation communities

Mixed vine forest (endangered), Melaleuca, Red Gum and Brushbox forest, Corymbia and eucalypt forests.

What we’re doing

As well as paying an annual environmental levy to look after the reserve, residents also have to meet strict environmental guidelines, including using local native plants in their allotments.

‘The people who live at the neighbouring residential development [email protected] play an essential role in the protection and restoration of this reserve.'
– Reedy Creek's Reserve Manager, Mat McLean

We work with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to monitor and protect the nesting sites of the local Loggerhead and Flatback turtles on adjacent beaches. Some residents also help with turtle nest monitoring.

Flatback Turtles nest on Reedy Creek Reserve. Photo Steve Heggie.

Eggs, which females lay in nests dug into sand, are highly vulnerable to predation by foxes, so we undertake regular fox control.

Revegetation work has been carried out on the foreshore to stabilise the dunes and protect nesting turtles from light pollution. Further reveg work is happening in cleared areas using endemic tree stock. We're also carefully managing areas of rare vine thicket rainforest and planting on the fridges of the rainforest area to encourge it to extend.

As this reserve abuts a residential area, fire management is a priority for ecological and safety reasons.

Giant Cockroaches

A Giant Burrowing Cockroach at Reedy Creek. Photo Steve Heggie.

Cockroach expert Dr Harley Rose from the University of Sydney, has revealed that Reedy Creek has some very rare Giant Burrowing Cockroaches. We think this species is endemic to a small area and might even be restricted to 10-12 kilometres of the coastline near Reedy Creek.

Cultural values

This reserve contains cultural heritage materials of interest to Aboriginal people. When Michael Myer bought the land he gifted an additional parcel of land to the Traditional Owners.