Cassowary family drops by just south of Daintree River
Shire wildlife
There are cassowaries living around the southern banks of the Daintree River, and more will make homes there if the habitat is made more conducive, one Daintree Village local says.
Chef Armin von Keyserlingk invited Newsport to visit his family’s about 145ha just outside the Village to see a trio of cassowaries living in the wet tropical rainforest there who regularly visit his backyard.
Mr von Keyserlingk was responding to a recent story about plans to reforest a large tract of inactive farmland on the southern side of the Daintree River being rejected by Douglas Shire Council.
He said, if more land around the Village was reforested, more cassowaries would return to the region and this would help boost tourism south of the river.
“It would be nice to have that all forested again,” he said.
“We don’t have all that much low-land rainforest on this side, it’s all cut down for canefields.
“We rely so heavily on tourism, cane’s gone down, so why not enhance tourism if we can?
“This is a perfect opportunity.
“This should’ve got the green light.”
Mr von Keyserlingk and other Daintree Village tourism operators spoken to by Newsport are unsure how many cassowaries currently live south of the river, but they say the ranges in between there and Miallo has the right habitat for them to breed.
The DSC last month voted to keep most of the land near the ferry landing available for agriculture in case a viable crop can be found since the demise of sugarcane.
In last month’s meeting, the council heard that much of the about 400ha tract of land is unsuitable for cropping, with some of it not being farmed for about 10 years, and since the demise of cane farming in the region, there is no known viable crop which can be farmed there anyway.
The group wanting to reforest, Rainforest Rescue, also currently employs 10 people in the region and wants to employ more workers to help reforest the floodplain, and there is also much support in the region from landowners and Daintree Village locals such as Mr von Keyserlingk.
