Western Cape York turtle nesting season is underway again. Turtles nest all year round on Cape York, but peak nesting time on the western Cape is from July to October each year.

This corresponds with the time of the year that the beaches are most accessible, and visitation to these remote beaches continues to increase.

Words Sandra Lloyd | Photo Tropical North Queensland

Australia has 40 species of mangroves which cover around one fifth of our coastline, about 12,000 square kilometres. Cape York has all 40 of Australian species. Only Indonesia and Brazil have more species than Australia.

Words Jessie Price-Decle and Juliana Foxlee | Photo Jessie Price-Decle

The three-year project saw graziers make changes to their land and grazing practices to improve land condition and water quality outcomes.

The project team, made up of Cape York NRM, South Cape York Catchments, and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries staff, worked across 20 properties over the life of the project.

South Cape York Catchments Grazing Project Officer Jessie Price-Decle said the project made a difference to water quality and land condition.

Words and photo Kerri Woodcock, Western Cape Turtle Threat Abatement Alliance (WCTTAA) Coordinator

A remote sand cay off the north east coast of Cape York, Milman Island became a centre of activity during the annual turtle census in summer 2018/2019. Led by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, turtle monitoring on Milman Island has been a regular event on the turtle calendar since 1991 when it was first established as a representative monitoring beach for northern Queensland hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata).

Words and photo Robyn May

‘Manage landscape and all species benefit’ was just one of the many positive comments made during the feedback session following the 2019 Cape York Indigenous Fire Workshop.

This year’s workshop was held in July at Mary Valley and coincided with the school holidays, so lots
of kids were able to attend and learn an array of traditional fire and land management techniques while spending time on Country. This is critical as these children are the land and sea managers of the future.

Cape York NRM’s Healthy Farming Futures project is working closely with Cape York’s pastoralists to help their businesses become more sustainable.

Co-led by Cape York NRM’s Regional Agriculture Land Facilitator Andrew Hartwig, the project sees graziers in western flowing catchments in Central Cape York increase the amount of ground cover on their properties to help reduce erosion, sediment run-off and improve water quality in the Gulf.

It also provides a pathway towards business sustainability.

2019–2020 has been a big year for the Biodiversity and Fire Program. After a number of staff changes, the team now consists of Biodiversity and Fire Program Manager Kerri Woodcock who is based in Cairns, and Biodiversity Officer Dr Helen Penrose, and Community Engagement Officer Joey Dix who are both based in Cooktown.

With the support of Cape York NRM, the Western Cape Turtle Threat Abatement Alliance, a collective of five western Cape Indigenous Ranger groups, spent the 2019 nesting season (June – September) monitoring seven beaches, managing feral pig numbers and installing turtle nest cages to protect eggs and hatchlings.

WCTTAA’s end of season meeting for 2019 was held in Cairns in December with special guest Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Sally Box in attendance.

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2021. Some people will be glad to see the back of 2020, but there were many good things to come out of the previous 12 months. During 2020 Cape York NRM was able to restructure its operations and program support so that we are able to deliver the best on ground projects possible and we have an incredibly busy year planned for 2021. We welcome four new staff to the team and the Cooktown office is now bursting at the seams.

The North Queensland Threatened Species Symposium will be held on 16-17 February 2021 at the Cairns Colonial Club.

The objective of the Symposium is to increase knowledge exchange and collaboration between organisations and individuals working to conserve threatened species and ecological communities in Northern Queensland.

The symposium will include presentations from the Threatened Species Recovery Hub researchers, and will include workshops focussing on threatening processes that impact the threatened species in our region.

Wetlands on Cape York are very important because they are a filter for water flowing from land to the Great Barrier Reef, they are a refuge and a breeding ground for many different animal species, and also home to many aquatic species, both plants and animals. Some threats to coastal wetlands are feral animals, erosion, pollution, fire, and loss of oxygen in the water from aquatic weeds. Along with the threats comes the problems or issues caused, such as a decrease in native animal and plant species and a decline in water quality.