Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: Population Characteristics of Cape York Peninsula

This report investigated the population of the Cape York Peninsula and evaluated the collected data in order to create numerous statistics on the region including population progressions, tourism, birh trates, educational attendance, population mapping, cultural mapping, economy, documentation of events, as well as identifying issues in the previous census (1991).

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: Surface Water Resources of Cape York Peninsula

This report is part of the CYPLUS Land Use Program and establishes an overview of the surface water resurces on the Cape York Peninsula at the time, including an assesment on the reliability of project deands and related environmental and social issues associated with that. The report also outlines the ecological diversity of these resources along with specific issues that were seen to possibly affect the long term managemtn fo the Cape York Peninsula's surface water resources.

On the Cape approximately 80% of the annual rainfal occurs between December and March while April to October is significantly drier. The Cape contains a number of Australia's most significant rivers including the Mitchell, Wenlock and Jardine. Riparian zones are well formed across these rivers and are compromised mostly of Melaleuca viridifloraand Eucalyptus tetradonta.

The Cape contains a range of water body types including permanent and temporary rivers, lakes, billabongs, lagoons, wetlands, estuaries, rainpools, aquifers, springs and numerous others. Several studies were performed which gathered data on water quality of major and minor surface water deposits for this CYPLUS report. The report then relates this data with the affect it would have on the future use and management of the Cape York Peninsula's natural resources.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: Transport Services and Infrastructure of Cape York Peninsula

This report investigated issues relating to transport services and infrastructure on the Cape York Peninsula as part of the CYPLUS Land Use and Natural Resource Analysis Program in 1995. The study identified the then current provisons of transport and infrastructure and compared it to the then needs of residents and industry and the projected requirements for new and developing indstries. The report also investigated the costs of said services and the enviromental impacts that were seen to come along with transport infrastructure on the Cape York Peninsula.

One major aim of this study was to compile a comprehensive summary and inventory of the Roads(arterial and major arterial), Airflields (both sealed and unsealed), Ports, Public transport and tourist services such as busses, ferries, taxis and air services, and Freight and mail services within the Cape York Peninsula and was then entered into the CYPLUS GIS.

The report also identified the industries which are sensitive to the state of the trapnsport industry, as well as the transportation needs of regional communities. A minimum access standard for regional transportation within the Cape York Peninsula was developed and the funding costs of improving outdated transport infrastructure throughout the Cape was also approximated at $700 million in 1995.

Potential environmental impacts of the transport industry in the Cape York Peninsula were identified such as erosion from the construction of roads and floral and faunal biodiversity due to vegetation clearing. The construction of ports was seen to impact on the marine environment due to pollution, whereas aiports carry significant impact due to the large areas of land needed to be cleared for the runway and obstacle limitation zones. Criteria for a minimum standard of transportation was identified as significantly differing from community to community, and conclusions were drawn on the outlook and recommendations for the transportation industry on the Cape York Peninsula as of 1995.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: Tourism Study of Cape York Peninsula

This study endeavoured to gather information about the then present tourims industry in the Cape York Pennsula as well as the future outlook and possible issues that may affect the tourism industry in the Peninsula.

Aboriginal Land Rights to certain significant sights were then seen to temporarily or permanently restrict access to said sights due to public perceptions in other regions of Australia, however regardless of the outcome this was not seen to impede the tourism industry on the Cape York Peninsula.

Geographical and climatic conditions such as the significant size and the weather patterns blur the line between infrastructure and attraction and was seen to be a major factor in shaping the tourism industry of the Cape York Peninsula.

From the surveys completed by visitors it was identified that three distinctive visitor types existed, those being independent travellers, group travellers who were camping, and groups who were not. Out of the tourists surveyed 78% were from Australia, with 53% being female with 40% male correspondence. The average length of stay was identified to be about 10 days for overseas visitors and roughly 5 weeks for Australian visitors with 93% of tourists being on their first visit.

The report also outlines surveys on industry and residents, as well as identifying a resource inventory within the Cape. The report also evaluates the organistations and products involved in the tourism inustry of the Cape York Peninsula before identifying potential then future figures for the tourism industry along with several limitting factors.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Natural Resources Analysis Program: Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna of Cape York Peninsula

The primary aim of the Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna project was to gather information by undertaking field serves in key areas lacking then existing data on vertebrate fauna and make that available for incorporation into the Conservation Assessment in stage 2 of the CYPLUS report. This project contained two sub projects developed to most efficiently achieve the established aim, these were a historical records project collating existing information, and a field survey with the aim of obtaining new and additional faunal data. The field survey concentrated on the South-west area of the Peninsula which was indentified as lacking faunal information at the time.

Sampling of previous surveys was conducted only in the QDEH focal area which included the Northen, Western, and Cape Flattery of areas of the Cape York Peninsulla. Roughly 23,000 records with core attributes such as species identity, latitude and longtitude, collector and date, habitat, vegetation structure, phsyiographic region and site charactersitics were collected of birds, mammals, frogs, and reptiles within the Cape York Peninsula region were compiled. Two new species - a frog in the Cape Melville range and a skink on the Glennie Tableland were identified and geographical ranges for two other species were increased.

As over 80% of the Cape York Peninsula was covered by woodlands, the majority of species were found to be associated with this habitat type, however minor habitats such as rainforest and mangroves had higher than expected species numbers. The number of species associated with rainforest habitats was considered significant and emphasised the dense biodiversity within these environments.

The main issues concernig conservaton identified by this report were rainforest areas due to significant biodiversity concentration, riparian forests de to their role as wildlife corridors, wetlands due to their importance to the survival of waterfowl and aquatic species as well as rocky hills and cliffs which were identified to contain a high number of endemic species and act as biodiversity hotspots within the landscape. The maitenance of faunal biodiversity was identified by CYPLUS as being one of the most significant criterion on whichthe success of any conservaton strategy will be judged.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: Survey of Forest Resources of Cape York Peninsula

As an aspect of the Land Use Program a study into the forest resources of the Cape York Peninsula was undertaken with the aim of compiling a regional outlook on the economic, environmental, and cultural resources of forests and woodlands in order to establish a baseline of their use in the early 1990's.

The scope of this project report was to decribe the values of forests and woodlands as well as indentify the needs for products derived from these environments. Other aims were to estimate the potential for timber supply, examine aspects of then governmen policies, as well as to define the lank of grow cycles for various species and identify region specific management requirements for individual species and forest types.

In this report woodlands are defined as having between 10 and 30% foliage cover in the overstorey strata whereas forests are defined as having more than 30% cover. Neldner and Clarkson's 1994 survey of vegetation on the Cape York Peninsula showed that in 1994 forests and woodlands covered approximately 84% of the Peninsula. During consultation with members of the CYPLUS task force at an early stage of the CYPLUS project it was decided that areas where hardwood utilisation had occured or areas that had been identfied as having possible timber resources wuld be the focus of this study. This focus was chosen in order to deal with aspects of resource use projection.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Natural Resources Analysis Program: Wetland Definition and Fauna Assessment of Cape York Peninsula

The aim of this project was to define the differnt types and respective distribution of those types of wetlands within the Cape York Peninsula CYPLUS study area and attempt to investigate patterns between wetland habitat and faunal occurence. This knowledge was seen to then be able to be used in the effective management of wetland fauna.

The categories of wetland for mapping were broadly defined as mangrove, saline opern areas, perennial waterbodies, ephemeral waterbodies, sedgeland and swampy forested areas. A major set of data gathered by CSIRO in the 1980's was also used as it was based on photography of the Australian coastline every 10km, giving a detailed values regarding phyiscal and vegetative features. A major source of faunal information came from distribution records from NR03 and results from aerial surveys of waterbirds and waders undertaken between 1990 and 1991 along the hinterland soutwards of Aurukun.

From the study it was apparent that the Cape York Peninsula has a diverse number of wetland regions and that no two habitats are exactly alike. Though considerable geographical variation exists, patterns of bird populations was able to be drawn from this data. Coastal regions north of Port Musgrave were found to have a lower diversity of wetland birds as opposed to the South West region.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Natural Resources Analysis Program: Vegetation Survey and Mapping of Cape York Peninsula

This report summarises information about the structure, floristic composition, and areal extent of the present vegetation on the Cape York Peninsula in 1994. In the report 21 structural formations in flora were recofnised, with woodland and its various subsidiaries being the most common and widespread formation. Closed forests only covered approximately 5% of the Cape York Peninsula.

With regards to the mapping aspect of the study 201 map units were recognised for natural vegetation with a further six for distrubed vegetation. From the 201 map units 30 broad vegetation groups were created and information was extrapolated by intersecting entered vegetation coverage on the CYPLUS GIS. The vegetation of the Cape York Peninsula was predominately dominated by Eucalyptus Spp. woodlands, open woodlands, and open forests which cover approximately 64% of the total study area.

The most prominent vegetation groups within woodlands occuring on sandstone, metamorphic and ironstone ranges (7.6%), other large broad vegetation groups (5.6%) group 7 dominated by the boxes (5.0%), group 9 dominated by iron barks (4.0%) and group 11 dominated by Molloy box (3.1%).

The second most extensive vegetation group is the low open woodlands, and low woodlands covering 24.6% of the study area. Grasslands (6.1%), rainforests (5.6%) and heathlands (3.3%) were the next most extensive vegetation types. Extensive field testing as a part of this study found a total of 3338 flora species in the study area.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: Values, Needs and Aspirations Study of Cape York Peninsula

This study was undertaken between July 1994 and Janurary 1995 as a project within the Land use Program of CYPLUS. The purpose of this study was to gather information from the residents of the Cape York Peninsula to try and gain a better understanding of what they value, their social needs and future fears and aspirations regarding land use on the Cape York Peninsula.

There was a 55% response rate for the study with the participants in the study representing approximately 1% (then 169 residents) of the Cape York Peninsula.

It was found from data collected during the study that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondees and non-indigineous or Torres Strait Islander respondeeds results shared little disparity with the majority of people agreeing on similar topics.

Responses showed a significantly important relationship between the people of Cape York and the natural environment expressed a desire for continuation of harmonious multiculturalism in the area. Most respondents expressed a belief that national parks and the Great Barrier Reef are areas thgat must be preserved and protected. There was a concern that the Great Barrier Reef was being harmed by over fishing and that national parks were not being correctly maintained. This is the only valid CYPUS study which records the residents of the Cape York Peninsula's wishes for their land and lifestyle.

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Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy: Land Use Program: An Assessment of the Conservation and Natural Heritage Significance of Cape York Peninsula

This report both details the distribution of particular conservation values across the Cape York Peninsula and also acts as a guide for the 40 GIS layers created during the CYPLUS conservation assessment. This was seen to eventually allow members of the public to focus on a specific location within the GIS such as their pastoral property.

The wetlands of the Cape York Peninsula were identified as some of the largest and most biologically diverse and significant in Australia with coastal wetlands providing importance to waterbirds and mangrove communities maintaining rich fish populations.

At the tIme 379 rare and threatened plant species were recorded in the area including 15 endangered. The greatest concentration of endangered vertebrate species were found in rainforests and on boulder cliff habitats.

There were a number of species identified which only occur on the Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea region which are of historic significance. A significant biological relationship between the Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea was identified by the study. The poplations of at least 134 plant species were found to be separated from other populations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

There were several geological features on the Cape York Peninsula that were identified as being prime examples of their landform types including the tower karst development of the Mitchell-Palmer area, the boulder mountain landscapes of Cape Melville and Black Mountain, the beach ridge system to the south of Cape Keerweer, the floodplains of the Archer and Holroyd rivers, the swamps of the Jardine river, the sinkhole development within the Mappon and Mitchell-Nassau areas and the bauxite profiles which occur at Pera Head and the Weipa area.

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