Liam Pratt (Owner/Director at Biodiverse Environmental) and Justin Watson (Principal Ecologist/Director at Gondwana Ecology Group) recently met up to check on the progress of the rehabilitation offset site at Wallum Lane, Noosa Heads.
This rehabilitation project was designed to offset tree removal, which was part of a development at Sunrise Beach. For more information about the conservation efforts that were involved at the development site and the initial works that occurred at the rehabilitation site, click here.
At the Wallum Lane rehabilitation offset site, three hectares of degraded land has been converted into what will be protected bushland habitat, with a specific focus on the growth of the Black She-Oak (Allocasuarina littoralis) population, the preferred feed trees of Glossy Black Cockatoos. Over the 5 years of maintenance programs, it is expected that new habitat will be recreated, and regrowth of Casuarina species will occur, for the Glossy Black Cockatoo.
Ongoing maintenance programs of the rehabilitation site have already indicated that the rehabilitation project is on track to achieving a positive outcome for the site. Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea johnsii) translocated to the rehabilitation site have recorded a very high survival rate, while the majority of other species planted during the project have already experienced significant growth. The live seed soil has also shown dense regrowth of a high diversity of natives, with 2m growth achieved in the first year in some locations.
This rehabilitation project was as a collaborative effort, involving Biodiverse Environmental, Keyton and Bluecare.
The video below provides an insight into what it took to achieve the growth and species diversity already present on the rehabilitation offset site.
