Team spark
Teamwork, firebreaks and prescribed burning protects Yourka Reserve. Meet Team Spark – our national fire management crew, assembled from across the country.
Yourka sits in the Einasleigh Uplands and Wet Tropics Bioregions and covers a range of geology, resulting in a variety of ecosystems
The reserve includes tall wet eucalypt forests to open Iron Bark and Lemon-scented Gum woodlands down to riparian lowland woodlands.
On the way to Yourka Reserve you pass through one of the most diverse landscapes on the continent.
Behind the rainforest of the eastern side of the great divide, the rain shadow brings the vegetation back to moist eucalypt forest and then woodlands.
Tall white Queensland Blue Gums line the rivers that run west, feeding the Herbert River and its huge flanking Paper Bark and Blue Gum trees.
Image Information
Aerial view of sunshine over woodlands on yourka reserve. Photo Martin Willis.
Yourka's residents include a population of Mareeba Rock-wallabies that occurs on localised areas of granite outcrop and two sightings of Tree Kangaroos have also occurred on the reserve.
All this is protected thanks to the generosity of our supporters.
What Yourka protects
- 147 bird species. Includes Red goshawk (endangered), Northern Masked Owl (threatened) and White-throated Needletail (threatened).
- 44 mammal species. Includes threatened Koalas and Northern Greater Gliders.
- 18 amphibian species. Includes threatened Green-eyed Tree frog.
- 47 reptile species. Includes threatened Atherton Ctenotus.
- 274 plant species. Includes Near Threatened Hopbush (Dodonaea uncinata) and Northern white donkey tail orchid.
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Mareeba Rock Wallabies. Wayne Lawler/EcoPix.
What we’re doing
The property’s pastoral history didn’t involve large scale land clearing, which happened nearby so it was quick to return to essentially intact bush land. But through disturbance by stock and vehicles a number of significant weeds established. Having removed domestic cattle, we’re now working to remove weeds such as Siam weed, Grader grass, Giant rats tail grass and Lantana.
Fire management is particularly important for the control of Siam and Lantana. Fire also plays an important role in regenerating tree and shrub species and stimulating fresh grass growth in the grassy woodlands.
Feral pigs, which damage sensitive wetlands, also need active management.
The Red Goshawk
One of Australia's most distinctive raptors is also one of the rarest. It's thought to have been here as long as the marsupials and eucalypts – right back to Gondwana. It's the largest goshawk, the rarest (with perhaps only 700 pairs left in the wild) and very elusive (with its vast home range, quiet nature and habit of changing nesting areas).
Listed as endangered in Queensland, Red Goshawks have been spotted in the Blue Gums near the Herbert River. Square-tailed Kites have also been recorded. Such sparsely distributed species need large habitat areas, which Yourka provides.
Image Information
Red Goshawk. Photo David Baker-Gabb.
Ecological Scorecard
Learn more about our Conservation Management Process and how we measure our impact.
494 KB Cultural values
Yourka Reserve includes traditional lands of both the Jirrbal and Warrungu people.
