Community Planting Day at Gurrbum Reserve – 21 November
Slap on a hat and some sunscreen and join Queensland Trust for Nature (QTFN) and our partners at a Community Planting Day at Gurrbum Reserve, near Tully this Saturday 21 November 2020.
It’s the first planting for the Summer season at the Reserve, a 17-hectare property we purchased last year in partnership with C4 Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation (C4) with the vision to secure habitat for the endangered southern cassowary.
Since then, work has begun to transform the former banana farm into cassowary habitat with the support of C4 and volunteers from the Tully and Mission Beach community, and project partners Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Greenfleet, Terrain NRM, Brettacorp, and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
More than 6,000 native trees have already been planted on the property as part of a three-year planting program which will see around 24,000 trees planted over a 6-hectare area of land that had previously been cleared for farming.
This week’s Community Planting Day, which will be attended by QTFN’s General Manager Operations, Christina Cork and Long Term Holdings Project Manager Felicity Shapland, will continue the work completed to date.
The plan is to plant cassowary food sources such as bandicoot berry, quandong and other favoured food species.
The trees have been sourced from local nurseries, including some grown by C4 from seed collected around the area.
Once revegetated, Gurrbum Reserve will form a critical movement corridor for the cassowary and other native species between Japoon National Park, Tully Gorge National Park and the Walter Hill Range Conservation Park.
The planting day is being coordinated by C4 and supported by a Community Sustainability Grant from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
Event details
When: 8.00am, Saturday 21 November 2020
Where: Gurrbum Reserve, Old Tully Road, Smiths Gap
Morning tea and lunch will be provided, bring sunsafe clothes, closed in shoes and water bottles.
For more information, contact C4 on 07 4068 7197 or email c4mission@gmail.com