More wetland protected on the Sunshine Coast

 

West Coolum Wetland

In a new win for the environment on the Sunshine Coast, an additional 120ha of wetland and grassland has been acquired by the Sunshine Coast Council for protection as environmental reserve. This brings the total area of wetland and associated habitats in the heart of Australia’s tenth largest city to be protected to 1,700ha.

West Coolum Wetland (foreground) with newly acquired area above (Sunshine Coast Council pic)

The new area adjoins the Sunshine Coast Motorway behind Coolum and as with other acquisitions in recent years, it is former sugar cane land. The wetlands were created by the inundated of tidal waters following the collapse of floodgates after much of the region’s cane farming ended with the closure of the Nambour sugar mill two decades ago. Although human-modified, the wetlands are not dissimilar to those which occurred naturally around the Maroochy River floodplain prior to the development of cane farms a century ago.

West Coolum Wetland 

The latest acquisition more than doubles the size of what I have dubbed the West Coolum Wetland, a 90ha site acquired by the council in 2011 but not made a reserve until 2020. These acquisitions effectively expand the 190ha Yandina Creek Wetland, purchased by Unitywater in 2016 as part of the corporation's nutrient offsets program following a lengthy campaign to save the area from development. These and other acquisitions, along with the Coolum Creek Environment Reserve, are the backbone of the Blue Heart project - a joint endeavour by the council, the Queensland Government and Unitywater to protect and restore Maroochy River floodplain wetlands.

Royal Spoonbill

Sunshine Coast councillor Maria Suarez said of the latest land purchase: “This is another example of what’s exciting about Blue Heart: benefits for biodiversity; creating nature-based recreation opportunities; and increasing opportunities for Council’s ongoing Blue Carbon investigations and trials.” The $6 million land purchase was secured through the SEQ City Deal, a long-term partnership between the Australian Government, Queensland Government and Council of Mayors (SEQ) that allocated $35.3 million to Blue Heart.

West Coolum Wetland

The West Coolum Wetland provides habitat for a range of wetland and grassland wildlife species. During a brief visit this week I found good numbers of Little Grassbird and Spotless Crake, both relatively uncommon in South-East Queensland. Egrets, cormorants, spoonbills and herons were among the waterbirds present. Dollarbirds and an Australian Hobby perched on nearby overhead wires.

Dollarbird

Australian Hobby

The news is not all good, however. The council has given property development giant Stockland preliminary approval to build a 450-lot housing estate on the Maroochy River floodplain at Twin Waters. The development will result in the destruction of a fine swathe of grassland and a much-needed green space in the midst of a rapidly expanding urban footprint in the area. To say nothing of yet more housing developments in flood-prone sites. It says something that Stockland is required to provide an evacuation centre for residents to escape to in the event of flooding.

Spotless Crake

Across the motorway from Stockland’s project on Godfreys Road is the council’s next important test. Another area of excellent grassland there provides habitat for several rare species including the Eastern Grass Owl. (More on the owls here.) The council is presently determining whether to convert the grassland to sporting facilities or protect it as a reserve.

Eastern Grass Owl

1000 Hectares of Sunshine Coast Wetland Protected

Combined efforts by the Sunshine Coast Council, statutory authority Unitywater and the Queensland Government have led to almost 1000 hectares of wetland and associated woodland being protected as environmental reserve in the centre of Australia’s tenth largest city.

More property acquisitions are expected to be added to reserves as government authorities make good on promises to protect the Sunshine Coast’s so-called “Blue Heart” – 5000 hectares of the environmentally rich and diverse Maroochy River floodplain (protected areas shown in the map above). The designated Blue Heart area is described as an "innovative partnership" including the Sunshine Coast Council, Unitywater and the state Environment Department. Its aim is to "build future economic and environmental resilience, while retaining a focus on flood hazard management and climate change adaptation". However, the good news is tempered by the continuing subdivision of sugarcane farmland in the designated Blue Heart area south of the Maroochy River.

The Sunshine Coast Council recently acquired three parcels of land totalling 38 hectares in the vicinity of River Road, expanding its Coolum Creek Environment Reserve to 433 hectares. The council reserve provides important buffer zone protection for Unitywater’s 191-hectare Yandina Creek Wetland (first image in post, captured this week). Part of the buffer area is pictured above. The protected areas includes extensive areas of grassland and wetland that provide habitat for scarce birds such as King Quail, Eastern Grass-Owl (below) and Lewin’s Rail. Together with the Queensland Government’s 342-hectare Coolum Creek Conservation Park, a total of 966 hectares is now protected in the area surrounding Coolum Creek and Yandina Creek in interconnected reserves.

Included in the council’s Coolum Creek Environment Reserve is the 90-hectare “West Coolum Wetland” (below), a diverse and bird-rich wetland sanctuary east of Coolum Creek that I proposed be protected as a reserve in 2016 (for further information see http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2016/09/newly-discovered-wetland-on-sunshine.html - note that Blogger no longer provides hyperlinks; URLs need to be copied and pasted to search engines).

Another part of the council reserve is a River Road property I first suggested be acquired and protected in a submission to the council in 2012 (see http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2012/12/wetlands-destruction.html). The council rejected the submission at the time, saying the area was not of significant environmental value and was not in a “highly strategic” location. The property adjoins Yandina Creek Wetland. The present owners will be able to continue current land uses for a further five years under a lease agreement.

Later, the council used similar arguments to reject my submission to purchase Yandina Creek Wetland (above) for a reserve. It was ultimately acquired by Unitywater in 2018 - following a concerted campaign backed by BirdLife Australia and others - and has been restored as a wetland (see http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2018/05/yandina-creek-wetland-back-from-brink.html). A 1.7 kilometre walking trail which was opened last year by then Unitywater chairman Jim Soorley (pictured with me below at the trail opening) has proved popular with birders and more broadly the general public.

The council has clearly turned full circle in a substantial and welcome change of heart, having now spent more than what Unitywater paid for Yandina Creek Wetland on conservation property acquisitions in the area. Following the most recent land purchases, mayor Mark Jameson (below) acknowledged that the Blue Heart area had “significant environmental and natural flood plain characteristics”, adding: “It’s an area where responsible land and water management will showcase – and deliver – exemplary environmental, social and economic outcomes.” The acquisitions by the council in the Blue Heart are a substantial contribution to protecting biodiversity and increasingly threatened habitats and wildlife in the Sunshine Coast region.

Across the Maroochy River from River Road, the story is not so rosy. The floodplains adjoining Burtons Road and smaller roads south of the river host a variety of grasslands and woodland habitat that attract vagrant shorebirds such as Pectoral Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper (below), as well as infrequent avian visitors from the inland like Brown Songlark and Stubble Quail.

A small number of large cane farms in the area have been allowed to subdivide and much of the grassland has been bulldozed and filled for home sites in what is surely a highly flood-prone area. Earlier this year I took these images of some of the subdivided properties (below) following heavy rainfall in the region.

The area is also being used as an unofficial rubbish dump for all manner of debris (below).

These subdivisions are well within the boundaries of the designated Blue Heart conservation hotspot and stand in stark contrast to the positive developments north of the river.

Yandina Creek Wetland Open to the Public

BirdLife Australia's Ken Cross and Greg Roberts on the new bridge

The Yandina Creek Wetland is finally open to the public, eight years after efforts began to protect one of the Sunshine Coast's biodiversity hotspots. Unitywater, which acquired the site as part of its nutrient offsets program in 2016, has built an 850-metre elevated bitumen walking track that leads to a bird hide from a new carpark at the end of River Road.

Visitors are able to look out over an open area of wetland that is favoured by a resident pair of Black-necked Storks. Some interesting and scarce birds have been recorded in this part of the wetland including Australian Little Bittern, Black Bittern, Lewin's Rail and Australasian Shoveler. Great Egret, White-faced Heron and many other more common waterbirds are numerous. Several pairs of Black Swan nest in this area. To date, 168 species of birds have been recorded from the wetland.

Black-necked Stork pair seen from the hide 

En route, visitors on the wheelchair-friendly track pass through areas of Allocasuarina and Melaleuca woodland and mangroves adjoining Yandina Creek. Signs at the hide illustrate various bird species, while signs along the path highlight vegetation, tidal influence and other environmental factors. Just a small proportion of the 200-hectare site is accessed from the new facilities, with the remainder off-limits to visitors as Unitywater continues to undertake research and other activities. Those areas that remain off-limits include the main feeding and roosting sites used by migratory and resident shorebirds.

The announcement of the opening today allows the public to take advantage of newly relaxed Covid-19 restrictions that begin this weekend.

New wetland bird hide

The wetland is part of the Blue Heart Sunshine Coast project, a partnership between Unitywater, Sunshine Coast Council and the Queensland Department of Environment and Science to protect and manage more than 5000 hectares of natural floodplain in the Maroochy River Catchment.

Yandina Creek Wetland

Unitywater executive manager of Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions, Amanda Creevey, said plants in the Yandina Creek Wetland took up nutrients and sediments from the water to improve water quality and overall river health, adding: “An added bonus of the wetland is the boost in biodiversity we’re seeing, including increased marine life, mangroves and wetland plants, and birds, with some migratory birds even returning to the site.”

Sign in carpark

Ms Creevey said: “The addition of the trail walk and bird viewing hide means we get to bring the community along for the ride, take a walk with nature and maybe spot some of the incredible creatures here. With COVID-19 restrictions easing we’re proud to provide this environmental facility to our community. We see it as the beginning of an environmental hub in this area.”

The Sunshine Coast mayor, Mark Jamieson, said: “Through the Blue Heart we’re continuing to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and enhancing our natural assets. Importantly, the Blue Heart is another tangible demonstration of how our Council is working with its partners to strengthen our region’s climate resilience and taking real action to assist our communities to adapt to a changing climate.”

Black Swans seen from the hide

The site was natural wetland before it was drained in the 1920s for sugarcane plantations. It was sold to developers in the mid-2000s after the closure of the Nambour sugar mill. Farm floodgates which controlled the flow of tidal water from Yandina Creek to the site fell into disrepair, allowing the wetland to be created by tidal inflows. The area effectively reverted to its natural state.

I began efforts to protect wetland in the area in 2012 when I proposed to the Sunshine Coast Council that it acquire a 12-hectare property at the end of River Road, near where the new car park has been built. I was struck by the variety of birds in the area including the endangered Australian Painted-Snipe.

In 2014, I put to the council a much larger proposal for the acquisition of three properties covering 212 hectares. Both proposals were rejected. At the same time, I began a campaign to lobby the Queensland and federal government to intervene to deter the landholders from proceeding with their initial plan to convert the site to cattle pasture, and later efforts to re-establish sugarcane plantations.

Great Egret seen from the hide

However, the wetland was drained in 2015 when the landholders rebuilt the floodgates. The view of governments at all three levels was that because the wetland was essentially man-made, it was not worth protecting. However, following spirited efforts by BirdLife Australia and others, and intervention by Unitywater chief Jim Soorley, the site was acquired by Unitywater a year later.

The floodgates were reopened and some were destroyed to make way for a bridge over the canal along the new walking track. A full account of the Yandina Creek Wetland campaign can be found here.

Visitors are warned: mosquitoes can be in considerable numbers at this site, be prepared. Unitywater's efforts to protect this important site are to be applauded. It's a big win for the birds!

White-faced Herons seen from the hide 

West Coolum Wetland to be Protected

West Coolum Wetland

The West Coolum Wetland on Queensland's Sunshine Coast is to be protected and managed as a nature reserve in a significant win for the environment. The decision by the Sunshine Coast Council at its February meeting to protect the 90-hectare site means more than 700 hectares of contiguous wetland and coastal woodland in the heart of the Sunshine Coast will be preserved.

The West Coolum Wetland is on land formerly used for sugar cane production. The area was inundated by tidal flows from Coolum Creek following the collapse of canal floodgates after the council acquired the site in 2011, allowing a thriving wetland to be created in the same way that the nearby Yandina Creek Wetland came to be.

Broken floodgates at West Coolum Wetland

The 190-hectare Yandina Creek Wetland was drained and earmarked for development before it was acquired by Unitywater in 2016 as part of the corporation's nutrient offsets program following a lengthy campaign to save the wetland. The site has been restored as a flourishing wetland and the numerous birds that had called it home are returning. Prior to Unitywater's intervention, the Sunshine Coast Council came under fire for rejecting proposals to purchase the land and restore the wetland.

The council has since demonstrated an encouraging change of heart. Last year it launched its Blue Heart Sunshine Coast Project, aiming to sustainably manage 5,000 hectares of the Maroochy River floodplain in partnership with Unitywater and the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. The project's objectives include the securing and protection and management of the floodplain's most environmentally critical areas.

The council will play a role in the future management of the Yandina Creek Wetland as part of its Blue Heart commitment. The move to protect the West Coolum Wetland, which had partly been designated for “open space sport development”, is another important step. Yandina Creek Wetland, the Coolum Creek Reserve and West Coolum Wetland are now joined in a large protected area.

West Coolum Wetland - looking towards Mt Coolum

I stumbled upon the West Coolum Wetland while kayaking along Coolum Creek in 2016. I was immediately impressed with its potential as a reserve and wrote to the council requesting that it be protected as a wetland. Among nice bird records there were one of only two sightings of Australian Spotted Crake from the Sunshine Coast region, and the scarce Eastern Grass Owl and Australian Little Bittern. The council undertook environmental consultancy studies which indeed underscored the site's environmental values.

Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson said the wetland would be managed for conservation and added to council’s environment reserve network. “The lands, located west of the Sunshine Motorway at Coolum Beach, offer an exciting opportunity to establish an estuarine wetland due to the frequent tidal inundation of the site,” the mayor said.

Google Earth image of West Coolum Wetland

Speaking more generally about Blue Heart, Mark Jamieson said: “The project is a fantastic example of how council is taking action now to identify risks, and help our community prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. Working across approximately 5000 hectares on the Maroochy floodplain, the project seeks to deliver effective land and water management to proactively respond to a transitioning landscape through conservation, recreation, flood mitigation and new carbon storage opportunities.”

As with Yandina Creek Wetland, there is no public access to West Coolum Wetland. Unitywater has given repeated undertakings to eventually allow pubic access to Yandina Creek. The council is expected to take the same approach with West Coolum.

West Coolum Wetland site map

One pressing problem facing the Maroochy River floodplain remains, however. As I have written previously, the council has allowed the residential subdivision of sugar cane farms on the floodplain in contravention of state government and council planning guidelines. As a consequence, extensive areas of cane and grassland that are home to an abundance of birdlife are being carved up for homes that must surely be flood-prone.

One of the newly approved residential developments on Maroochy River floodplain 

Yandina Creek Wetland Survey December 2019

Great Egret & Yellow-billed Spoonbill

The latest BirdLife Australia survey of Yandina Creek Wetland for Unitywater was undertaken on Saturday December 21 by myself, Steve Grainger and Russell McGregor. We had an excellent morning with plenty of good birds about. The morning started off well with two Baillon's Crakes feeding in the newly flooded southern half of the site. This species was once regular at the wetland but this is just the second sighting since the site's northern half was restored. Two Spotless Crakes were recorded later in the same spot.

Baillon's Crake

A Lewin's Rail scurried across the track and a couple of Buff-banded Rails were seen. Large numbers of Grey Teal were again present and a small group of Pink-eared Ducks - a very rare species on the Sunshine Coast - was among them.

Grey Teal & Pink-eared Duck

Migratory shorebirds were in reasonable numbers with Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and Latham's Snipe recorded.

Marsh Sandpiper, Grey Teal & Pied Stilt

Large numbers of Australian Pelican were present, feeding on what presumably were commensurate numbers of fish.

Australian Pelican

The normally scarce Glossy Ibis was in good numbers and a couple of Yellow-billed Spoonbills joined the sizeable rafts of Royal Spoonbill. Great Egret was plentiful.

Glossy Ibis 

Royal Spoonbill

Other nice birds included Little Grassbird, Nankeen Night-Heron and White-throated Needletail. Olive-backed Oriole was among the bushbirds seen.

Nankeen Night-Heron

Olive-backed Oriole 

Black-necked Storks were again on show, this time two pairs feeding in the shallows in widely flung parts of the site. It was pleasing to see a Water Rat splashing about with another couple almost certainly feeding in the shallows.

Black-necked Stork

Recent surveys have departed from the old format of short transects done by multiple groups. There are several reasons for this. Some of the old transects are now impassable due to the sustained inundation of the wetland, which wasn't a problem in the early days but is now. Much of the taller grass along the main perimeter track has drowned, allowing easier observation over the wetland, so double-counting from the old transects would increasingly be likely to distort data. It's necessary to wade into the wetland in gum boots off the tracks, which is not everyone's cup of tea. A comprehensive survey can be done comfortably now by a small group in a few hours. As reported after the September survey, the reopening of some more floodgates on Yandina Creek has allowed part of the southern half of the site to be flooded for the first time in several years. More water has accumulated in that area since then. Ebird list.

Yandina Creek Wetland: September 2019 survey

Australian Pelican over the wetland

Steve Popple and I conducted an afternoon and early evening survey of Yandina Creek Wetland for BirdLife Australia on September 28. This was the first BLA nocturnal survey and we were rewarded with brief views of a busily calling Large-tailed Nightjar after sunset. This is a rare species in south-east Queensland and Yandina Creek is the most southerly site at which the nightjar occurs. Unfortunately it didn't avail itself of a photograph. There was no sign of the Eastern Grass Owls which I had found in the area in past years.

Also of special interest was a pair of King Quail on the track. They showed themselves briefly but again avoided the cameras. A pair of Black-necked Storks were a little more co-operative; as in times past, this is proving to be the most reliable site in the Sunshine Coast region for this iconic species. The male bird in this image is fishing.

Black-necked Stork

We were particularly pleased to see good numbers of migratory shorebirds about. We had an estimated 150 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.Most were in a single large flock seen just before sunset in an area we had surveyed earlier and not found; they clearly had gone undetected in another part of the wetland.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

About 20 Marsh Sandpipers were also of note, as was a single critically endangered Curlew-Sandpiper.

Curlew-Sandpiper (R, pic by Steve Popple)

Marsh Sandpiper

Five recently arrived Pacific Golden Plovers, most still sporting breeding plumage, were seen, along with 8 Latham's Snipe.

Pacific Golden Plover

Latham's Snipe

Among other shorebirds, the presence of about 80 Red-kneed Dotterels was noteworthy; it's highly unusual to see so many of this primarily inland species in coastal Queensland.

Red-kneed Dotterel

Large flocks of Grey Teal were wheeling over the wetland as we found ourselves drenched by the first decent downpour of rain on the coast in weeks. Whiskered Tern was a new species for the wetland: Species Number 168. 

Grey Teal

Other nice birds included Glossy Ibis, Nankeen Night-Heron and Little Grassbird. A fair number of Australian Pelicans and cormorants indicated quite a few fish must be present.

Glossy Ibis

Little Grassbird

Raptors included two White-bellied Sea-Eagles that were actively patrolling the wetland.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

We found a dead Grassland Melomys, Melomys bertoni, a new species of mammal for the wetland. In the past I've found Water Rat Hydromys chrysogaster and Swamp Rat Rattus lutreolus here.

Grassland Melomys

We noticed that Unitywater has reopened several more floodgates at the eastern end of the wetland which had been shut for several years. As a result, the southern half of the wetland now has some water in it. This is a welcome development. As other floodgates reopen with time, the site will be fully restored. Ebird list of the 68 species recorded.

More floodgates opened