No bull: Cattle property purchase a win for endangered Wet Tropics wildlife, conservationists say

A plan to beef up the Wet Tropics’ climate change resilience will start in prime cattle country with a new project led by a national restoration group.

Conservationists hope a new wildlife corridor will help protect the beloved white lemuroid ringtail possum. The mammal is a symbol of Queensland’s Wet Tropics that remains on the brink of extinction. Image: Mike Trenerry.

A plan to beef up the Wet Tropics’ climate change resilience will start in prime cattle country with a new project led by a national restoration group.

New South Wales-based not-for-profit Gondwana Rainforest Trust (GRT) purchased the 83-hectare Maalan “cloud forest” property on the Atherton Tablelands for just over $1m this month.

Featuring 45 hectares of high-altitude remnant rainforest, the remaining cleared land will be reforested, connecting Maalan and Wooroonooran National Parks.

The spotted-tailed quoll, Australia’s second largest carnivorous marsupial, is also found in Queensland’s Wet Tropics. (Supplied)

Ecologist, Kristopher Kupsch, who surveyed the property last November, said establishing the wildlife corridor would benefit several endangered endemic species at risk from rising temperatures.

“There are a lot of arboreal mammals and marsupials that are endangered nearby,” Mr Kupsch said.

“There’s also the southern cassowary travelling through.

“For the white lemuroid ringtail possum, high altitudes are the only place they can be because they can’t thermoregulate.

“They just get too hot (and die).This means there’s a good chunk of habitat for them to retreat to when heat waves occur.”

Lumholtz's tree kangaroos are rare, long-tailed marsupials that live . (Supplied)

The corridor will also benefit spectacled flying-fox, spotted-tailed quoll, Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo and the tooth-billed bowerbird, GRT founder Kelvin Davies said.

“This is a significant win for conservation, and one that will have a lasting positive impact on the biodiversity of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area well into the future,” Mr Davies said.

“This will give cloud forest inhabitants … safer passage as they traverse the landscape.”

A wildlife corridor between Wooroonooran and Maalan National Parks will provide safe passage for the southern cassowary. (Image: Tourism Tropical North Queensland)

GRT will now work with project partners South Endeavour Trust to revegetate the cleared land and plant around 120,000 new trees.

“The ultimate goal is to protect and manage the Maalan Cloud Forest property as a nature refuge, and South Endeavour Trust intends to apply for this status with the Queensland Government,” Mr Davies said.

Identifying agricultural land that can be restored is vital to the preservation of native species, Mr Kupsch said.

“The biodiversity of Australian animals should always be preserved wherever possible,” he said.

“There’s around 100 million sheep and cattle in Australia.

“Its rich red soil and a very dynamic ecosystem because of how fertile it is.

“Returning this land to rainforest can only be a good thing.”

A six-month crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $375,000 and philanthropic donations had made the purchase possible, Mr Davies said.

Originally published as No bull: Cattle property purchase a win for endangered Wet Tropics wildlife, conservationists say