Cassowary habitat gets revegetation work

More than 1000 native trees will be planted near Wangetti Beach later this year in an attempt to rehabilitate Cassowary habitats in the Douglas Shire.

Douglas Shire Council staff have begun preparation work at the site using a Bio condition Assessment Tool designed to measure the change in vegetation conditions.

The revegetation project is funded through Terrain NRM’s Building Rainforest Resilience project which includes revegetation work, a landholder incentives program, community grants and ways to reduce cassowary deaths and injuries on roads.

Council’s Biosecurity Team Leader Brad Everett said the project was an opportunity for Council staff to collaborate with rangers to rehabilitate littoral rainforest.

“We believe through weed removal and revegetation, we can help cassowaries by improving the extent, condition and connectivity of their habitats,” he said.

“Council staff are working with the Yirrganydji Indigenous Land Sea Rangers, who have strategies for managing littoral rainforest and coastal vine thickets between Port Douglas and Palm Cove, to share knowledge and create a long-term investment for the preservation of this unique part of coastline.

“This will evolve into a strong working relationship to increase the frequency of future environmental restoration projects.”

The Mossman Nursery is busy preparing native tree species for this project and numerous other revegetation projects scheduled throughout the Shire this year.

More than 300,000 native trees have gone out since the nursery started recording revegetation projects in the year 2000.