By Waratah Nicholls, Project Manager, Gateway to the Cape

Organisations and businesses are offered the golden opportunity to promote their businesses and support a great local initiative by sponsoring a new traveller stop and information centre on Cape York.

The new traveller stop, named ‘Gateway to the Cape’, will be situated at the junction of the Mulligan Highway and the Peninsula Development Road at Lakeland, which is 80kms south of Cooktown. This is an ideal spot for travellers to stop on their way to the tip of Australia, and while travelling through Cape York.

By Robyn May, Communications Officer, Cape York NRM

This is an invitation to all our project partners, and Cape York NRM members and directors, to submit content for the Cape York Healthy Country Newsletter. We want to share your stories about the terrific work that you’re doing with everyone across the Cape. It’s inspiring for people to read about what can be achieved by the land and sea managers of this beautiful region, so please contact us to chat about your ideas for natural resource management related articles; or simply send an email.

Marilyn Kepple was born in Cairns and grew up in Coen, where she has lived for 30+ years. Marilyn’s family connection to Coen is through the Wik Iiyeny (iiyeny) - also referred to as Mungkanhu which is the language group for the area - and formerly recognised as Wik Mungkan people.

The Wenlock Catchment Management Group recently elected a new committee to continue the voice for this important river system. 

 The Wenlock River catchment is one of Australia’s most biodiverse, relatively pristine rivers spanning over 7,500 square kilometres. The community that form part of the Wenlock River catchment, uphold cultural, social, and economic links with the river and its lands of the catchment.

Reporting can sometimes feel overwhelming, but your reports are very important. Thorough reporting content can have a direct impact on funding availability for either the next step of your current project, or new and exciting ones down the track.

The good news is that Cape York NRM staff members are here to help you, so give us a call. And besides - we love to read about your successes. Include any hurdles you might have encountered along the way and how you got over them, or how future projects could be modified to avoid these challenges altogether.

A documentary which showcases the work of Indigenous Rangers involved in the Western Cape Turtle Threat Abatement Alliance (WCTTAA) is now available to the public.

Rangers of the Western Cape Turtle Threat Abatement Alliance (WCTTAA) have completed another successful year of turtle nest monitoring and protection on western Cape beaches for 2017. The partnership of five Ranger groups from Northern Peninsula Area, Mapoon, Napranum, Pormpuraaw and Kowanyama work together for the protection of marine turtles along the west coast of Cape York.

At two recent Cooktown workshops, Cape Yorkers learned ways to do just this.

The workshops - ‘How to grow more with less’ and ‘Create your pest-resistant garden or farm’, were run by Cooktown’s Dr Wendy Seabrook, and supported by Cape York NRM through funding from Cook Shire Council’s Economic Development Programme. She provides training, videos and other resources in ecological farming and gardening.

“Participants came away from the workshops with practical ideas to trial on their own properties” she said.

The Laura Rangers are continuing to expand their capacity to monitor water quality in the Laura-Normanby catchment. Recently the Rangers received training in operating the new automatic water sampling equipment installed in the East and West Normanby Rivers by the Department of Science, Information, Technology and Innovation (DSITI).

As a continuation of the ongoing gully remediation trials carried out by Cape York NRM on Crocodile Station, three fast moving gully headcuts have been stabilised using rock chutes and energy dissipation pools. The channels downstream of the gullies have been revegetating over time.