RRSR-BFL - Forestvale riparian recovery Cats Claw Creeper control

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Other

On-ground work

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Australian Government/NRM

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31 May 2014

30 September 2014

This project area encompasses 10 km of riparian zone, and more than 60 ha of Lowland Subtropical Rainforest - a threatened ecological community, along a section of Baffle Creek in the Mount Tom district 12 km southeast of Miriam Vale.
The vegetation communities are being threatened by invasive plant and animal species - creek banks have been eroded following a succession of recent flood events.
Establishment of a meta population of the Cats Claw Creeper (CCC) biocontrol agent at this property will provide an 'epicentre' from which the species can radiate out to a larger area within the catchment system - a stepping stone to expansion both up and downstream of the release site. As such, it is anticipated the property will be associated with research and monitoring and evaluation to assess the veracity of long-term H. jureceki investment within the existing CCC biocontrol programme.

On-ground works funded by this project will provide long-term protection of the riparian area and the nationally threatened ecological community; and, the property has been identified as a strategic site within the mosaic of the Baffle system for future release of Hylaeogena jureceki (Leaf-mining Jewel Beetle) and the Cats Claw Creeper biocontrol agent.
The project will provide improvements to water quality entering the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon through reduced sediment and nutrient loads and a reduction and interruption to concentrations of invasive species at a key location within the Baffle Basin.
Conservation will be observed through improvements to the integrity of the native vegetation communities and maintaining essential habitat for threatened species such as Phascolarctos cinereus (Koala).

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