Author: Bronwyn Robertson

DG: Increasing Cultural Awareness

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Focusing on the local Indigenous language, implement a range of initiatives to improve cultural awareness in the Mossman and Daintree area.

Why it is Important?

Language is a core feature of Indigenous culture and provides the connection between country and people. Increasing the visibility and use of the Indigenous language can help raise cultural awareness for locals and tourists and help to maintain a connection to culture.

Examples of Local Action

  • Continue the very successful Indigenous language program offered at the Mossman State School and expand to other schools. This program has resulted in improved attendance, increased cultural pride and acceptance and reduced instances of bullying.
  • Install interpretive and locality signs using local Indigenous language names.
  • Continue the development of, and promote involvement in, cultural awareness programs offered by local Traditional Owner-led businesses.

DG: Coastal Revegetation Programs

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Conduct revegetation in coastal areas around Mossman to help protect these vulnerable areas, particularly with the increasing impacts from climate change.

Why it is Important?

Coastal areas are important for their biodiversity values, as well as the protection they provide to communities and infrastructure located here. Revegetation of coastal locations and protection of mangrove systems can improve their buffering ability and help improve resilience with changing climatic conditions.

Examples of Local Action

  • Revegetate Douglas foreshore areas.

DG: Pump Station for Port Douglas Marina

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Install an onshore sewage pumpout facility for the Port Douglas Marina to minimise disposal at sea by commercial boats.

Why it is Important?

A sewage pumpout station for the Port Douglas Marina would minimise the release of sewage by the marine industry at sea and reduce the impact of sewage pollution in coastal and marine waters.

Examples of Local Action

  • Gain government and industry support to install, manage and maintain a sewage pumpout facility for the Port Douglas Marina.

DG: Reducing Impacts of Development

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Carefully manage new developments in the Douglas area to minimise environmental impacts.

Why it is Important?

The Douglas area is renowned for its open spaces and relatively low levels of development. The natural landscapes are what attract many tourists to the area and are the reason many locals live here. It is vital to maintain the natural environment and carefully consider major developments so the values people love about our area are not lost.

Examples of Local Action

  • Protect existing habitat from further development and human impacts eg. through conservation buy-back schemes, local government planning.
  • Maintain strong provisions in town planning schemes to limit the expansion of the urban footprint and ensure the natural values of the area are not diminished.
  • Limit dredging of inshore areas.

DG: Improving Waterway Health

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Reduce water quality impacts from a range of sources, including agricultural and urban activities, to improve waterway health and the Great Barrier Reef.

Why it is Important?

The freshwater creeks, rivers and wetlands in our area provide critical habitat and nursery grounds for many aquatic species and are vital for our towns and farms. Our rivers also flow directly into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Good water quality is vital for our freshwater ecosystems and the Great Barrier Reef, as well as for rural and urban use.

Examples of Local Action

  • Conduct local water quality monitoring at a small sub-catchment scale (eg. Crees Ck) to accurately identify the type and source of pollutants and allow more targeted water quality activities.
  • Set up demonstration sites showing nitrogen use efficiency trials to improve soil health and reduce N application.
  • Conduct revegetation of important riparian areas (eg. Crees Ck, Whyanbeel Ck).

DG: Protecting Habitat and Wildlife

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Protect existing habitat and the important wildlife species it supports, using a range of planning initiatives and incentives.

Why it is Important?

The Douglas area has many unique and iconic species of wildlife, but many of these are being severely impacted by loss of habitat and human activities. It is important that our region retains the habitat and conditions to support these wildlife species, to maintain the high biodiversity values and to support a strong ecotourism sector.

Examples of Local Action

  • Identify areas of high biodiversity value and protect them through conservation buy-back schemes.
  • Protection of flying fox colonies and roosting sites. Spectacled Flying Foxes are now listed as endangered, but many of their camps are still being disrupted / relocated and much of their habitat has been destroyed.

DG: Revegetation – Nightwings

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Complete revegetation of 15 hectares of cleared land to enhance ecosystem function, improve habitat connectivity and increase community awareness.

Why it is Important?

The project will result in positive outcomes for both biodiversity and community awareness.  It will build on substantial previous work conducted at the site, including planting of more than 70,000 trees over 9 hectares and installation of wetlands.  A binding conservation agreement will be placed on the site once revegetation is complete, to ensure protection in perpetuity.

Examples of Local Action

  • Revegetation and maintenance of plantings at NightWings rainforest site.

DG: Landholder Extension Package

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Work collaboratively to enhance existing, and develop new, practical, useful knowledge brokering services and products for land managers.

Why it is Important?

Using the latest knowledge about how to translate science in order to inspire and enable change, a cross-sector program targeting a range of outcomes including profitability, could enhance farmer capacity and build a stronger culture of natural resource stewardship.

Examples of Local Action

  • Partner with local agricultural services to make available information and resources regarding sustainable / alternative agricultural practices and soil health. Many farmers already work with ag services, so it would be a good place to get advice about a range of practices and different sources of information.
  • Hold sustainable agriculture field days or workshops around Mossman, bringing in the right extension people who have the right approach (eg. people like Graeme Sait, Christine Jones and Dave Hardwick) – need to provide information to help people to start the process of change and introduce new ideas.
  • Hold discussion forums or farm visits to provide opportunities to connect with others and share ideas.
  • Set up demonstration sites showing a range of alternative agricultural production systems (eg. agroforestry).
  • More training and resources for soil testing, to better match crops and fertiliser use to soil.
  • Investigate alternatives to chemical fertilisers (eg. diatomaceous earth) to improve soil health and maintain productivity.

DG: Grazing Management for Coastal and Wet Areas

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Conduct research and prepare extension material investigating sustainable grazing management strategies appropriate to wetter, coastal parts of the region.

Why it is important

Much of the current grazing information and extension advice focuses on drier areas of the region, such as the Upper Herbert and Northern Tablelands. While grazing covers a much smaller area of land in coastal locations, it is still an important part of the farming landscape. More research is needed to further develop strategies suitable for these areas and to extend the information to landholders.

Examples of local action

  • Conduct trials to identify appropriate pasture species (grasses and legumes) for coastal and wet locations eg. Mossman.
  • Identify extension staff with grazing management experience in wet tropical locations and invite them to a group workshop/s in Mossman (eg. Simon Mattson from Soil Land Food – experience with sugar cane and soil health).

DT: Walking Tracks for Tourism

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Establish walking and cycling tracks in the Daintree – Cape Tribulation region to improve access to natural areas for locals and tourists.

Why it is important?

Tourists from around the world visit  Daintree and Cape Tribulation to experience the natural environment.  Providing opportunities to easily access these areas, in conjunction with interpretive signage, will improve their appreciation and understanding of the environment.  It can also increase the amount of time tourists spend in the area, benefitting local tourist operators.

Examples of Local Action

  • Establish walking/cycling tracks within walking distance of Daintree Village (eg. at water tower reserve).  Using existing tracks on public reserves can help with cross-tenure issues and establishment costs.
  • Establish a range of walking/cycling tracks (eg. from a few hours to multi-day) throughout the Daintree region – ‘The Daintree Trail’.

DT: Novel Tourist Experiences

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Encourage world-class presentation of the Daintree’s natural assets to provide  tourists with the best possible experience.

Why it is important?

The Daintree is a world-renowned tourist destination. Finding new and interesting ways to present and interpret the region’s natural attractions will provide more opportunities for tourists visiting the area, as well as incentives to conduct return visits. Removing barriers and providing supportive pathways to establish innovative tourism ventures is an important mechanism to enable new tourism experiences to be developed.

Examples of Local Action

  • A range of possible options could be implemented by tourist operators, government or industry. The focus would be on exceptional quality experiences and presenting the natural attractions in interesting ways. Examples could include glass bottomed viewing platforms, maintenance of existing infrastructure, establishing and maintaining lookouts or walking trails, etc, etc.
  • Simplifying the planning and approval process and reducing red tape for new ventures to be established, including on a range of land tenures (private land, adjoining protected areas).

DT: Scaling Up Restoration Activities

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Investigate a range of methods to enable large-scale restoration projects.

Why it is important?

With a legacy of past clearing and fragmentation, as well as new and ongoing threats to natural systems, restoration is important to increase the resilience of native forests. Traditional restoration techniques in tropical rainforest environments are costly and time intensive, meaning only relatively small areas can be restored at a time. Alternative techniques or different approaches could reduce the resources required and increase the area restored.

Examples of Local Action

  • Support to increase capacity of nurseries with local native plants.
  • Establish collaborations and partnerships between active conservation organisations in the area to better support larger restoration projects (eg. sharing resources).
  • Investigate alternative techniques for cheaper rainforest restoration over large areas, that still achieve good environmental outcomes and high levels of success.