What you need to know about National Threatened Species Day

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Do you know what a Thylacine is? Its common name is the Tasmanian tiger (pictured above), and the last one in existence died on this day in 1936.

60 years later, Threatened Species Day was marked for the first time on 7 September with its significance growing every year.

The death of this magnificent creature, and subsequent extinction of its species serves as a stark reminder that the day may very well come when you’re trying to explain an animal you once loved to your kids, and will be faced with adding that they will never be able to see them for themselves.

Day to day, it can be difficult for people to understand why they should care about threatened species. One of the best ways to think about the situation is with wildlife species as bricks in the house of the natural world. You can eliminate a few bricks and the house will probably remain standing – although it will be weaker. But once you start knocking out brick after brick, eventually whole walls will collapse and the house along with it.

We humans live in that house too. So it’s important to care for its existence and reinforce its strength.

National Threatened Species Day is especially pertinent to Australians in 2020 with the 2019 bushfires wiping out an estimated 480 million native animals – many of which were already endangered or threatened, compounded by the ongoing drought and increasing pressure from invasive species.

In the SQ Landscapes region, more than 155 recorded species of mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and insects are classified as threatened.

So, Threatened Species Day, what to do? Here are our recommendations.

GET OUT AND ABOUT

With all that’s going on with COVID-19, now is the ideal time to be exploring the national parks in your area that have been on your list forever and not got around to seeing yet.

Top of that list should be to visit Currawinya National Park, located in Hungerford Queensland. It’s a freak of nature in the best way, a wetland in the middle of the arid south west. It has one freshwater and one saltwater lake forming part of the Currawinya Ramsar Wetlands where shorebirds migrate to nest every year in vast numbers. We are proud to be involved in protecting Currawinya through our Environment Project under the National Landcare Program.

Also worth noting is that Currawinya is famously a key habitat for the national treasure that is the bilby.

Image: Save the Bilby Fund

Spotlight on the Bilby

Now endangered, bilbies are a key species affected by Australia's mammalian extinction crisis. There are only around 700 of these guys left, a huge decrease when you consider they used to inhabit 70% of Australia's landmass. Feral predation and habitat loss are the culprits behind the decline of this Aussie icon, a common scenario for many threatened species.

Despite this, there's been some exciting progress for bilby recovery in the last few years. At Currawinya National Park, bilbies now live in a cat-free enclosure thanks to Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Save the Bilby Fund. The protected population are fenced off to ensure the individuals have a chance to live and successfully breed, which they have managed well since the first release in April 2019.

Outside the fence, ongoing feral animal control programs also assist in protecting bilbies into the future. Programs such as these are coordinated by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Save the Bilby Fund and us - SQ Landscapes.

INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Threatened species don’t just live in national parks though. Sadly, this means the environments where they live often don’t have the same protections. The Brigalow Belt is one such environment.

With its vast, open forests and woodlands, the Brigalow Belt is home to many rare and threatened flora and fauna species. This is another key site for our project work with the National Landcare Program, where we are working to preserve brigalow remnants that date back to prehistoric times for threatened animals like the regent honey eater.

Spotlight on the regent honey eater

The regent honeyeater is a striking bird to behold, with flashes of black and yellow delighting twitchers and unsuspecting bushwalkers in Australia's south east alike. Sadly, spotting these stunning birds has become more difficult than ever, having been described as "one step from extinction".

Because of their critically endangered status, regent honeyeaters are one of 20 birds that the Australian Government has prioritised resource allocation to support the species recovery effort.

The Regent Honeyeater is found in eucalypt forests and woodlands, particularly in blossoming trees and mistletoe, but widespread clearance of their habitat has seen their numbers decline and their range shrink, while encouraging more aggressive species of honeyeaters, such as noisy miners, to thrive.

These feathered gems are a 'poster bird' for threatened species, and are strongly associated with their remaining home on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, where our work is taking place.

Image: Australian Geographic

Although it seems obvious, where habitats become rare and endangered, so do their residents. One such habitat is the grasslands of the Darling Downs and one such resident is the grassland earless dragon.

Once one of the most common vegetation types across our region, the grasslands are now approximately one percent of their former area due to overgrazing, weed infestation and feral animals. For the flora and fauna that live in these treeless grasslands, the reduction in habitat size has been devastating.

Spotlight on the grassland earless dragon

Given the status of their home, it’s unsurprising that these tiny ground-dwelling dragon lizards were upgraded from threatened to endangered earlier this year.

Although their name suggests they are earless, they do have ears, but they lack an external ear opening and their ear drums are covered by scaly skin. Found in the cracking black soils and grass tussocks of the Darling Downs, organisations like ours are working hard across priority areas in the region to assist land managers with maintaining the grassland remnant habitats of this species, with an investment from the National Landcare Program.

If you’re not familiar with these habitats or want to learn more about the plants and animals which exist in these environments, it’s important that you do your research and boost your knowledge through the channels available to you.

If you decide to visit a national park, visit their website before you go so you know what animals to look out for, as well as visitor guidelines re: hours, accommodation, safety and conduct. Official social media channels are great places to get up-to-date information on when certain animals have been spotted, what new studies are being conducted, and ways to be involved in helping our threatened species.

Image: Robert Ashdown

...and finally

BAKE!

The Threatened Species Bake Off is an invitation to Australians to bake a dessert in the shape of a threatened species to commemorate Threatened Species Day.

Hosted by the Threatened Species Commissioner, this is the perfect event to put your quarantine baking skills to good use. Butterfly cakes decorated like real butterflies? Honey jumbles in the shape of honey eaters? Let your imagination run wild.

The focus for 2020 is ‘What’s in your backyard?’, highlighting the fact that nearly one third of Australia’s threatened species are found in urban areas.

You can take part by uploading an image of your baked goods to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram by using the hashtag #TSBakeOff and tag the Threatened Species Commissioner, alternatively send an image of your baked goods or a link to your iNaturalist records to tsbakeoff@environment.gov.au.

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Strategy on the Agenda at SQ Landscapes Board Meeting

by Caleb Back • 31 Oct, 2023

The Board of Southern Queensland Landscapes recently met in Toowoomba. In addition to the Board meeting, Board and Executive worked through updating SQ Landscapes’ strategy. Company Secretary Pam Murphy highlighted the importance of the latest Board meeting and what it means for the company’s future. “The updated strategy will help SQ Landscapes deliver sustainable natural resource management (NRM) outcomes that improve the lives of people in regional communities now and for the future,” Pam Murphy said. “We’re excited to continue delivering value for our region and build Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities across Southern Queensland under the guidance of the Board,” Mrs Murphy said.

SQ Landscapes' Annual General Meeting 2023

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start

Learn How Sophie and Adrian Transformed Their Wallet and Soil at “Bellhaven Brook”

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

When Sophie and Adrian McInnerney began adopting their “paddock to plate” experiment into their lambing business, they quickly discovered how a new and exciting approach to running their enterprise transformed their resilience and soil health. Multi-species cover cropping was the answer, and now their business has become a diverse enterprise that has embraced variations in livestock feed and crop rotation, building riparian fencing, and investing in healthier soils. This has opened the young couple to new opportunities to create new revenue streams, protect their business against natural disasters, drought, and prepare for economic hardships. Their property, “Bellhaven Brook”, located just an hour east of Goondiwindi, was the site of Macintyre Ag Alliance’s latest Multi-Species Cropping Field Day. With the support of Southern Queensland Landscapes (SQ Landscapes), the event aimed to promote the McInnerney family’s new land practices, offering an opportunity to educate land managers in the region of new ways to strengthen their property and enterprise. SQ Landscapes’ Goondiwindi-based Project Delivery Officer Keith Walker joined land managers for the workshop and highlighted how multi-species cover cropping could pave the way to rebuilding healthy soils and farming enterprises. “What was great about visiting ‘Bellhaven Brook’ is that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand this stuff. The idea is to just try and experiment like the McInnerneys did,” Keith Walker said. “These cover cropping systems are all about building your experience, experimenting and slowly developing a healthier and richer soil profile; which is the basis of all businesses; cropping and grazing alike.” Mr Walker said. “It was interesting to see the range of people, the ages from young and old, and the differences in enterprises. It’s a reminder that this genre of agriculture is starting conversations,” he said. “It’s all about implementation on the ground and getting the results for less money and experimenting with what people are doing.”

How Camels and Cool Burns are Transforming Risdon Stud

by Caleb Back • 02 Aug, 2023

Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.

Cultural Burning Returns to Mt Tabor on Bidjara Country

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Fire is crucial to maintaining our landscapes. That’s according to fire practitioner Robbie Williams, who accompanied Southern Queensland Landscapes earlier this year to bridge fire practitioner knowledge with First Nations Peoples across the southwest. Robbie has since returned to the region - this time accompanied by members of our Charleville team as he hosted training along the slopes of the culturally significant site of Mt Tabor, just outside Augathella. “This is the continuation of what we achieved last time we were in the southwest,” Robbie Williams said. “Last visit, SQ Landscapes connected me with local First Nations mobs including Kunya, Bidjara, Mardigan, Boonthamurra, Kooma, Kullilli, and Murrawurri,” Mr Williams said. “During this visit, many of these mobs agreed to trial fire practitioner training for young men in the area to bring burning back onto Country; and that is exactly what we’re here to do today!” he said. “It’s really inspiring to see these communities taking on the opportunity to learn about burning and we’re hoping this will develop into businesses the local mobs can build to manage their Country.”

Digital Artist Named Overall Grand Prize Winner of First Nations Art Competition

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Winners in the Southern Queensland Landscapes and University of Southern Queensland’s 2023 First Nations Art Competition have been announced to a crowd of more than 150 people in Toowoomba. Overall Grand Prize and Digital Medium Category winner has gone to Robert Claude Manns for his piece ‘Mandan’. "I wanted to express the fractured relationship that I have with some of the Mandandanji People. Unfortunately many of us feel connected to our Nation, but not always the people," Robert Manns said. "My piece was assisted through artificial intelligence (AI) art and I found that to be a really powerful tool in discovering how I wanted this art to go," Mr Manns said. "I've always been artistic, and I wanted to explore Indigenous art, but I wasn't great at it and I found the style difficult to personalise. AI and digital art has allowed me to connect with Indigenous art in my own way and explore things the way I wanted," he said. "I'm really glad it worked out and people liked the art!" "In truth, I thought I might only get an encouragement award, but to first see I won the digital art and then the Overall Grand Prize was just spectacular. There were tears in my eyes. I wasn't expecting to get so far!" Robert Manns said. "I want to thank everyone who made Indigenous art through the millenia; otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Mr Manns said. "Shortly before he passed away, my dad put me onto the competition and I thought I'd give it a go. I wish he was here to see it, as he was my inspiration for making this art." he said. "He was my inspiration and my supporter through it all."

Diversifying Your Agricultural Business into Retirement to Lever Off Natural Assets

by Kellie Stewart • 04 Jul, 2023

By Kellie Stewart When land managers Phil & Anne Donges entertained the idea of retirement they looked to the natural assets of their property located between Yelarbon, Inglewood and Texas to provide the answer. For almost 90-years ‘Glenarbon’ had supported generations of the Donges family; with key crops and land use pivoting numerous times as a result of market demands, economic climates and practice change. “Glenarbon was established back in 1932; our family came out then and it was to grow tobacco, that was in the middle of the depression,” Phil Donges said. “Five years ago we sold our main farm about 10-kilometres down the road and we decided to go into semi-retirement keeping about 100-acres of the original farm along about 1-kilometre of the Dumaresq River,” Mr Donges said. “We’re using Glenarbon now to run a few head of steers and then we’ve also gone into this eco-tourism where people can come and enjoy the environment like we like it ourselves,” he said. “We saw the ecotourism as an opportunity to give us some extra income by going into the camping side of things, but also to diversify our business so that we could in tougher seasons rely less heavily on livestock and more on the natural assets of the farm.”

Landscape restoration and rehydration reverses years of damage

by Kellie Stewart • 05 Jun, 2023

It’s amazing how quickly a landscape can rebalance itself according to Jarrod and Sam Thomson of ‘Gum Gully’, located some 14 kilometres south of Drillham in Queensland. The couple purchased the 820 hectare property in 2020 and since then have been working to reverse landscape damage caused by years of drought and overgrazing. “Gum Gully is a very diverse farm with a lot of timber ranging from Mallee box to belah, sandalwood and a lot of native pastures,” Jarrod Thomson said. “It’d been really knocked around by the droughts and our main goal was how do we bring back this place to make it a viable enterprise again?” Mr Thomson said. “Quickly realising that we had to rehabilitate the land and rehydrate it fast; desertification had set in and we were struggling to grow galvanised bur,” he said. Rehydration works included some contouring and soft engineering works combined with farm dams to slow the flow and manage water across the property to maximise each rain event regardless of whether it was 10mm or 100mm.

Tree Planting and Truth Telling at Gummingurru

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Reconciliation was on the agenda at Gummingurru for National Reconciliation Week. First Nations, local community, and avid gardeners came together for a round of truth telling and tree planting. Located north of Toowoomba, Gummingurru is an ancient and sacred site for Western Wakka Wakka Peoples, serving as a stopping point for First Nations Peoples on their way to the Bunya Mountains. Western Wakka Wakka man Shannon Bauwens, a First Nations man from the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC) led the event with a smoking ceremony and a round of truth-telling at the yarning circle near Gummingurru. “Reconciliation is about talking to each other. Coming together and making something positive as a community,” Shannon Bauwens said. “This yarning circle we are standing in now represents thousands of years of storytelling,” Mr Bauwens said. “Today is all about sharing our stories and finding new ways to come together as a community; whether you are Indigenous or not,” he said. “We have people from all different Nations, from Western Wakka Wakka, to Bunjalung, Gomeroi, and more.”

Lorinda Otto Joins Southern Queensland Landscapes’ Team as Incoming Roma Node Manager

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Meet Lorinda Otto. She is Southern Queensland Landscapes’ latest addition to the team as our Relationship Lead and the incoming Roma Node Manager for the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Innovation Hub. Lorinda joins our team with a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and community networking, working with government, non-government, community organisations, farmers, small businesses, and apprentices/trainees. “I’m all about connecting land managers and helping them understand how to become connected with innovation, upskilling, resilience, and cost-saving programs.” Lorinda Otto said. “My parents were farmers. Farming is in my blood and I have a passion for our environment. Outdoor experiences have helped shape who I am today.” Ms Otto said. “I was born in South Africa and I attended university in Johannesburg and initially started in the dental industry as an oral hygienist, but when we emigrated to Australia, I decided to be a stay at home mum for three years before later working at Queensland Health for nine months.” she said. “Following my work with Queensland Health, I worked briefly in the energy industry at Powerlink for 18 months which opened a door for me to work at Santos in their administration, community engagement, and data catchment fields.” “That opportunity led me into the government sector where I enjoyed five years in the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as their Senior Field Officer conducting key stakeholder engagement, supporting small business, and also monitoring the progression of apprentices and training programs,” Lorinda Otto said. “I worked across seven western shires, many of which are in SQ Landscapes’ catchment including Bulloo, Murweh, Ballone, Maranoa, Quilpie, and the Western Downs - alongside Banana and Blackall,” Ms Otto said. “I want our agricultural sector to be strong and healthy and I believe I have a role to play in that!” she said. Lorinda’s team includes Ally Southern, an Adoption Officer based in St George. They will work closely across the SQ Landscapes region to help land managers drought-proof their property and prepare for a more resilient industry. As the incoming Roma Node Manager, Lorinda will have lots on her plate, but she’s eager to rise to the challenge and bring her unique style to the role!