Gurambilbarra Town Common Wetlands project

NQ Dry Tropics is partnering with Wulgurukaba Traditional Owners and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) to restore health to a Townsville freshwater coastal wetland system popular with nature lovers, hikers, cyclists and birdos.

The $1.1 million Gurambilbarra Town Common Wetlands project aims to improve the wetland system habitat for wader birds such as brolgas and magpie geese at the iconic natural reserve.

Gurambillbarra, the traditional Wulgurukaba name for Townsville, is also the name of the newly-created ranger group that will support the project on the ground.

Restoring this important coastal habitat will benefit wildlife and will also improve the quality of water flowing to the Great Barrier Reef during the wet season.

NQ Dry Tropics Wetlands Team Leader, Scott Fry said the freshwater section at the Town Common wetlands had originally been constructed to provide habitat for wader birds following the expansion of Townsville airport into Blakey’s Crossing.

“The objective was to enable bulkuru sedge, an important food source for these birds, to flourish,” Mr Fry said.

“Unfortunately, this desired critically-important habitat has become dominated by the introduced semi-aquatic pastoral species para grass, which chokes the surface and reduces water quality.”

Mr Fry said the project team targets para grass by using  a saline solution to kill off the para grass so it could be burnt earlier in the dry season. The objective was to have no grass by the end of the dry season so once the wet season returned, the Common would have open water bodies to support abundant wildlife.

He said restoring coastal ecosystems, where the land met the sea, was an important part of efforts to protect the reef.

“Coastal ecosystems, including wetlands and creeks, support the reef by providing essential habitat for native species including fish, birds, invertebrates and crustaceans; and capturing nutrients and sediment before they reach the ocean,” Mr Fry said.

“They are nature’s kidneys, flushed out periodically during floods.

“Unfortunately, when para grass dies it rots, reducing oxygen levels and turning the water into a black ooze.

“When it rains, this unhealthy water flows into the sea, affecting nearshore marine habitats and seagrasses.”

Gurambilbarra Wulgurukaba Aboriginal Corporation representative Virginia Wyles said the project created roles for three full-time Gurambilbarra Rangers who would work alongside staff from NQ Dry Tropics, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, and a range of other partners.

“It is very exciting that our people will have an opportunity to care for Country,” Ms Wyles said. “The rangers will be working to improve the condition of a culturally-significant site that provides important flora and fauna habitat.”

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is providing in-kind support to the project, hosting the three full-time rangers and overseeing their day-to-day project-related activities.

Mr Fry acknowledged there were a variety of views on how best to manage para grass at the Town Common.

“Some people have advocated killing the para grass by simply removing the bund and letting the tides flow into the wetland,” he said.

“We believe it is important to maintain this freshwater habitat, which may be one of the last remaining of its kind given the predicted sea level rise of between 45cm and 82cm by 2090.

“There have also been calls to manage the para grass through grazing, which has occurred on the Town Common in the past.

“This can be beneficial, however, it is resource-intensive, requires additional staff to manage the cattle and with the increased human recreational use of the Town Common cattle can easily be let out and roam to areas where they aren’t supposed to be.

“Also research conducted by CSIRO found burning achieved better results.”