environment

Project Catalyst

NQ Dry Tropics is supporting cane farmers’ involvement in Project Catalyst. The Project is about helping progressive farmers who are developing practices that improve the quality of water leaving farms.

Project Catalyst was born in the Mackay Whitsundays area by natural resource management group Reef Catchments and has expanded into north Queensland with the support of NQ Dry Tropics.

Recommended Dry Tropics Nurseries

Recommended nurseries for native plants of the dry tropics:

Conservation Volunteers Australia bush garden nursery
End of Thompson Street Mundingburra, Townsville
Phone: 4721 4077
Contact  townsville@cva.org.au

Greening Australia
Pimlico TAFE, Townsville
Phone: 4796 0444
Contact: drytropicsnursery@qld.greeningaustralia.org.au

Other nurseries:

Burdekin Water Quality Improvement Plan

The Burdekin Water Quality Improvement Plan aims to reduce the sediment and agricultural chemicals going into creeks, rivers and the ocean.

The Plan is detailed in a comprehensive book for landholders and stakeholders interested in water quality in the Burdekin. It looks at the current condition of the region’s 48 sub-catchments and the best management practices for grazing and sugar lands within these.

It also lists targets and priorities such as by 2018, 80% of sugar land has best practice herbicide management.

Rangelands

Rangeland describes land that is expansive and that hasn’t experienced a large amount of change from European settlement.

Australia’s outback is mainly rangeland country – that’s 80 per cent of our landscape – while more than 90 per cent of the area within NQ Dry Tropics is rangeland that’s privately owned or leased for cattle grazing.

Coastal Agriculture

Water Quality and Sugar


NQ Dry Tropics has a number of publications to help cane farmers improve water quality on their farms.

Reef Rescue ABCD Framework Brochure - Sugar

Vehicles on Our Beaches

Driving on beaches is a popular activity in north Queensland for boaties, swimmers, and explorers.

Beaches in the Burdekin and Townsville regions are under increasing pressure from vehicle use.

Public safety concerns are also rising.

NQ Dry Tropics as a member of The Coastal Vehicle Management Steering Committee is working to reduce the impacts of vehicles on our beaches.

Black-throated Finch

The black throated finch Poephila cincta was once distributed from northern New South Wales to Cape York Peninsula. These finches live in grassy woodlands dominated by eucalypts, melaleucas or acacias near water. They mostly eat seeds of grasses, and now survive principally on grazing lands where they build grass nests on branches and in hollows of trees.

Contact Us

NQ Dry Tropics

Phone: 07 4724 3544
Fax:     07 4724 3577
Email:  info@nqdrytropics.com.au

Staff email addresses: firstname.lastname@nqdrytropics.com.au

Street Address

2 McIlwraith St
Townsville, Qld 4810

Environmental Risk Management Plan

Graziers with over 2000 hectares of land in the central and north Queensland dry tropics region are required to do an Environmental Risk Management Plan (ERMP).  

The ERMP requires an analysis of property land types, grazing land condition and hill slope erosion, gully and stream bank erosion.

Property managers submit a map,their plan for managing and monitoring erosion risks and designate five sites on the property for future photo monitoring. 

Give us a call on 4724 3544 if you want to know more.

Amphibians

The following is a list of amphibians common to the dry tropics regin. Where available, both scientific and common names have been provided.