The Escarpment: An essential South East Queensland wildlife corridor

This 500 acres doesn’t just contain a few trees and the occasional bird, it’s a significant wildlife corridor for an amazing array of animals.

The property, currently facing a proposed out-of-place development application to build a high-volume entertainment park, falls within part of a state bioregional corridor. It adjoins the Tamborine Mountain National Park and borders Guanaba Creek – a significant water catchment resource.

Apart from an area at the front of the property, the 500 acres is densely forested with a range of flora (some of which is recognised under state / federal environment protection legislation).

The property provides a stepping-stone for reserves within the Gold Coast City Council and Scenic Rim Regional Council regions. It also provides habitat connections to National Park and properties that adjoin the 500 acres.

The residents of these properties have been carefully re-planting indigenous and native flora species to rehabilitate previous farmlands. This commitment by local residents has helped further extend the corridors and provide more habitat for wildlife to rest, breed and travel to other areas.

Significant fauna species, some of which are threatened, endangered or vulnerable (under the Federal Government’s EPBC Act* and Queensland’s NCA**) heavily depend on the wildlife connections for their survival. These species include the beautiful and shy Albert’s Lyrebird and the Spotted-Tail Quoll.

Dedicated wildlife corridors provide animals with much-needed breeding habitat, which helps increase animal populations. Habitat reduction can lead to a reduction in species numbers. This reduces and weakens the gene pool, affecting genetic diversity and the ability for animals to fight disease (the Tasmanian Devil has faced such a problem).

The size of the proposed entertainment park and the activities within it will cause significant habitat fragmentation. If allowed to happen, the development will cut off wildlife corridors to other areas within the Tamborine Mountain Escarpment Protection Precinct and South East Queensland.

Habitat upheaval will also risk the influx of feral animals to the property, putting wildlife at further risk.

We all have a duty of care to protect this area from out-of-place developments that put at great risk future generations of significant wildlife species.

The wildlife relies on us to speak for them; so let’s stand up and be counted for their sake.

More on the wildlife of Guanaba’s Tamborine Mountain Escarpment Protection Precinct:

Frogs of Guanaba

Koalas of Guanaba

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly

Albert’s Lyrebird

Precious Guanaba flora and fauna

See our Save Guanaba Facebook page

Resources:

*EPBC Act: The Act | About the EPBC Act

**NCA: The Act | Threatened species info: EHP Queensland

IUCN Red List

The IUCN: “Assessing the conservation status of species, subspecies, varieties, and even selected subpopulations on a global scale to highlight species threatened with extinction, and therefore promote their conservation.”