A degraded three-hectare site within the Girraween Nature Refuge is being transformed, courtesy of a more than $500,000 investment by Blue Care.
The five-year project will see more than a thousand glossy black-cockatoo feed trees and other Australian natives planted on the former landfill site, using healthy soil and biota taken from nearby land Blue Care owns at Grasstree Court that is destined for conversion into its Sunrise Beach aged care precinct.
Ecologist Liam Pratt, whose Sunshine Coast-based ecological services company Biodiverse Environmental has been contracted to deliver the land rehabilitation works, said the project would kickstart the process of restoring healthy ecosystem processes to the area.
“Our goal is to create habitat to benefit the glossy black-cockatoo.”
Mr Pratt said he and his team had already started the process of clearing the rehabilitation site of weeds in preparation for planting cockatoo feed trees, and that mature native trees were present and had been retained to provide valuable nesting habitat for local birdlife and cover for new seedlings.
“With 15-year-old trees already in place, it will help us to develop multiple layers of strata that a natural ecosystem would have in place. Over the long-term of the project our goal is to have it functioning as a natural area would.
“We’ll be incorporating permanent nesting boxes and monitoring them as they go up too.”
Mr Pratt’s colleague and fellow ecologist Kate Gregory said birdlife is already plentiful in the area surrounding and on the rehabilitation site.
“We have identified over 25 glossy black-cockatoo feed trees, the Allocasuarina, within very close proximity of the rehab site and on the site and there is evidence of recent feeding behaviours occurring on those trees,” Ms Gregory said, adding she had also heard scarlet honeyeaters, the rufus fantail, the grey fantail, the black cuckoo-shrike, rainbow bee-eaters, and numerous other species calling to one another on the rehab site.
Mr Pratt agrees: “All the birds are already here. It’s exciting. We’ve got the perfect surrounding habitat, and we’re basically just strengthening it to provide more feed trees for the glossy black-cockatoos.”
Mr Pratt said he and his team are also looking to enhance the site by creating a new water resource for the birds.
“Although there is water in the area we have identified it would be value-adding to incorporate another permanent water source for the cockatoos, provided we can do so safely and Council permits it.”
He said he and his team had also salvaged 172 grasstrees from the aged care development site and that these would soon be replanted in Girraween Nature Refuge, as part of landscaping at Grasstree Court, and at a number of community sites in Noosa.
Ms Gregory said investment in effective weed management at the beginning of the project is essential to support future planting, and that significant upfront investment in related activities has been made by Blue Care to ensure they will be successful in restoring natural ecosystem processes to the site.
Mr Pratt said the rehabilitation site is an ideal location for offsetting the loss of 56 feed tree resources on the site Blue Care is developing for aged care and retirement living.
“The rehabilitation site is right in the middle of really important habitat and connected to the development site by land dedicated to conservation and National Park that is abundant with glossy black-cockatoo feed trees. Before it was degraded it was very similar in nature to the development site, with the same dominant species and soil type that is typical of ecosystems in the region.
“With the ability to bring soil over from the site Blue Care is developing that has all the right biota and seed stock, we have the perfect opportunity to enhance this area.”
Following the land restoration maintenance period, the land will be handed back to Noosa Shire Council to be maintained in perpetuity for community benefit.
For more information about Blue Care Sunrise Beach aged care home and village visit bluecaresunrisebeach.com
