Healthy Country 22: Our Fragile Soils

The Cape York landscape is grounded with ancient and fragile soils, which require careful management to ensure long term health of the land and to maintain our water quality across Cape York for the generations to come. This issue of Healthy Country newsletter focuses on some of the work being undertaken across Cape York to Care for our soils.

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Healthy Country 23: Threatened Species

Over the past 200 years Australia's biodiversity has declined fastest than any other country. Cape York has over 100 species that are listed as threatened, vulnerable or endangered on the Nature Conservation Act (1992). This edition of Healthy Country newsletter explores some of Cape York's threatened fauna, and showcases some of the great work people on Cape York are doing to reduce the threats to these species.

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Healthy Country 24: Wetlands and Water Quality

Water on Cape York is a highly valued natural resource. This newsletter highlights some of the ways that people on Cape York are taking care of it.

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Healthy Country 21: Seasons Greetings

The sun sets on a highly productive year for Cape York NRM. This year the Company has funded, delivered, supported and managed works across the length and breadth of Cape York. Implementation of our Sustainable Agriculture program has been highly successful.

We have visited over 20 grazing and horticultural properties, with property planning, weed control and training opportunities all underway. The initial focus area for this work, which will continue in the coming year, has been the Central Cape and Lakeland areas. Our involvement of people in the development of a Water Quality Improvement Plan for Cape York has commenced and we are working to provide the results in a way that is useful for those who live in and manage these east coast waterways. Natural resource management planning for the future of Cape York is almost complete, and early next year our online Atlas will be launched to provide an entry point to a world of information and stories about Cape York, by the people of Cape York.

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Healthy Country 25: People and Partnerships

Issue 25 reflects on another successful year of natural resource management on Cape York and celebrates our partnerships.

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Healthy Country 1: Cape York NRM Calls For Members

This is the first edition of Cape York Natural Resource Management's Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter. The edition contains a message to the people of Cape York from the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the time, Joseph Elu and the CEO, Bob Frazer explaining how the Newsletter seeked to provide a stream of knowledge related to NRM, Governance and working towards a healthy country. The Newsletter also contains an article about the formation of Cape York Natural Resource Management; the last of 56 legal bodies to be set up across Australia and the then future aims of the organisation.

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Healthy Country 2: Getting it Right for the Future

This is the second edition of Cape York Natural Resource Management's Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter. This issue contains articles directed at the People of Cape York such as the United Nation's Rights of Indigenous People, the appointment of a Regional Landcare Facilitator, a discussion on the Queensland goverment's consieration of World Heritage areas for Cape York, along side what was happening in the region at the time such as the Cape York Sustainable Futures open forum in Lakeland.

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Healthy Country 3: Coping with Change on Cape York Peninsula

This is the third edition of Cape York Natural Resource Management's Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter, released in August of 2011 and speaking to the people of a region with a then uncertain future about climate change, and the legislative impacts of goverment policies on carbon trading, mineral resources, land tenure, and conservation. Articles include that on the then upcoming Live Export Forum, a controversial issue at the time, as well as on the forward movement of Lakeland's agricultural sector. At the time Cape York Sustainable Futures were performing work aimed to increase the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon and Cape York Natural Resource Management had appointed a new Executive Assistant, Janet Greenwood. Two articles on the work Cape York Natural Resource Mangement was undertaking at the time elaborate on conservative measures for riparian vegetation and improving the resilence of the critically endangered coastal vine forest ecosystem as well as the funding of the feral pig cull as part of the Cape York Weeds and Feral Animals Program. Laura Rangers also organised a cultural plant awareness day as part of World Environment Day and saw the sharing of tradition knowledge when fifteen plans with medicinal, nutritional or material value were identified by Elders as well as explaining their use and perperation to the children of the community. The children's excursion was part of a South Cape York Catchments and Laura Rangers project to maintain traditional knowledge and allow tourists insight into Aboriginal culture by erecting signs identifying culturally significant plants and their uses.

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Healthy Country 4: Meet the Cape York NRM Team

This is the fourth edition of Cape York Natural Resource Mangement's Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter, reflecting on the previous 3 months at the organisation and on the Cape. Throughout that time Cape York Natural Resource Management welcomed Peta-Marie Standley to the team as program manager. The newsletter begins with a full page explanation for the people of Cape York of wild rivers legislation and it's relationship to Indigenous Reference Groups; something the majority of individuals found confusing at the time. The eradication of Salvinia was a focal point in late 2011, being regarded as the worlds worst weed, South Cape York Catchments had then spent over 3 years on Australia's most ambitious and agressive Salvinia eradication program with this article acting as a means of raising awareness about the program, and illegality and environmental risk of harbouring Salvinia on ones property. Two articles on fire are contained in this newsletter; one focusing on hazard mitigation burns on the Cape early in the season to prevent high fuel loads and hotter late season fires, the other carrying a focus on the significance of discussion about fire to change attitudes and allow for the conservational impact of well planned and well managed fire practices on the Cape to spread. The agricultural sector of the Cape York region had then recently experienced a significant blow following the Government's ban on the live exportation of cattle to Indonesia. The pastoralists of Cape York gathered at a live export discussion forum on the 12th of August 2011 in Georgetown to plan for the future of the pastoral industry in the Cape; this newsletter outlined the formation and recomendations of that forum.

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Healthy Country 6: Cape York Annual General Meeting and Community Forum

This is the 6th edition of the Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter released by Cape York Natural Resource Management only a month after the October edition. This issue looks at a three year carbon project initiated in late 2011 by NAILSMA which focussed on landscape scale emissions reductions on the Western Cape York Peninsula central Arnhem Land, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. An article written by Program Manager Peta-Marie Standley outlines the then recent achievements of the organisation within the Cape York Peninsula. Smaller articles on the Cape York Water Forum and Ranger Conference and the pharmacological investigation of WIK phytomedicines can be found towards of the end of the Newsletter.

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