Webinar: Live from Reedy Creek
In this webinar, recorded live at stunning Reedy Creek Reserve, Christian McCollum and Stephen Kearney chat about work being undertaken at the reserve and the challenges of conservation management in an urban setting.
Reedy Creek Reserve, near the town of Agnes Water, protects a very rare thing – intact Queensland coastal and riparian forest that has, elsewhere, been dramatically cleared for development.
The reserve was originally donated to us in 2004 by Michael Myer. It was part of a 600-hectare coastal strip, a quarter of which was kept for the Sunrise@1770 beach front eco-estate and the rest donated to us as a nature reserve.
The reserve is closed to the public while we investigate solutions around parking and the impacts of visitors on this fragile environment.
The land boasts rare vine-forest communities, riparian melaleuca forests and corymbia woodlands.
Reedy Creek itself forms a complex bird, freshwater fish and amphibian habitat that supports a range of species, including the Grey Goshawk. The reserve also provides a buffer for the adjacent coastal foreshore, which is an important nesting site for marine turtles.
Giant Cockroaches
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 km-12 km of the coastline near Reedy Creek.
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Giant Cockroaches at Reedy Creek. Photo by Mat McLean
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Paperbark forest. Photo by Annette Ruzicka.
Closed until further notice
The Paperbark Forest Walk is closed to the public. Our apologies for any disappointment this causes. Bush Heritage is working on solutions to parking issues and the impacts visitation is having on this fragile environment. We hope to re-open it again in future. In the meantime, thank you for not entering the reserve and helping to protect this precious environment.
What we’re doing
The main threats here are weeds escaping from residential areas or brought in by visitors, feral animals (including foxes that prey on turtle nests) and erosion of sandy soils.
As this reserve is near a residential area, fire management is a priority for ecological and safety reasons.
Thankfully, the neighbouring Sunrise@1770 development was done to strict environmental standards, including using local native plants in their allotments.
Revegetation work has been carried out on the foreshore to stabilise the dunes. Further restoration 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 rainforest fringe to encourage it to extend.
Reserve Scorecard
Learn more about our Conservation Management Process and how we measure our impact.
653 KB 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 Custodians.
