Arthur Gorrie
Traditional owners are leading a state government project to save the black-breasted button quail on Fraser Island, soon to be formally renamed K’Gari, its Aboriginal name, meaning Paradise.
The birds suffered significant habitat destruction in the K’Gari bushfires last year, according to the reported comments of one island-based Aboriginal ranger.
She and other rangers are involved in a three-year project to determine and mitigate threats and improve the birds’ habitat, she told an ABC journalist.
The broadcaster reported that rangers and researchers had set up 19 cameras on K’gari and five on the mainland at Inskip Point and Double Island Point.
Mainland pictures showed damage from feral cats, foxes and pigs, as well as human damage and weeds.
Ranger work in the area will now include pig and cat traps, as well as weed management, at quail hot spots.
These would include Inskip Point and Rainbow Beach on the mainland and Dilli Village and the Champagne Pools on the island.
A Butchulla spokesperson said last year’s blaze was “the most devastating bushfire“ in the island’s history, destroying a significant part of the island’s bushland and rainforest.
Traditional burning off would be applied next winter to protect habitat from wildfire,“ she said.
The island is said to be home to four of the seven species of the quail in Queensland.
It is regarded as representing a big proportion of the birds’ habitat.
The rangers have committed to engage in projects to enhance the quail habitat over the next three years.
