Welcome to the Autumn edition of Protected. We live in challenging times and I wish you and your families well during the coronavirus pandemic. Like so many, we have had to make major adjustments in response to the consequences of the virus and community precautions. Unfortunately our 90th birthday celebrations and parks campaign, for which […]
In October last year, NPAQ organised a seminar in Brisbane to discuss an important issue: the pros and cons of ecotourism in national parks. We caught up with two of the speakers after the event to get their perspectives in more detail (input from the other two speakers will be sought for the next edition). […]
Omar Bakhach is a Senior Ranger in the South East Queensland Region, based on the Sunshine Coast. While volunteering for cassowary conservation in Mission Beach in the late 1980s, and showing his father-in-law around the rainforest, an ‘off the cuff’ comment—“You’d make a good ranger!”—set him on the path to becoming a Park Ranger. Omar […]
With 90% of its roughly 50km2 covered in native vegetation, Magnetic Island holds great nature viewing opportunities. “Maggie”, as it is known, is a tropical, continental island separated from the mainland by 4.5km of shallow sea. The island’s fauna and flora is driven by its highly seasonal wet-dry climate and the underlying geology. The geology […]
The advice provided in this article is for private land only, and perhaps Council land with permission. National Parks have a strictly hands-off policy, so nothing should be provided there. Fire is a natural phenomenon in many Australian ecosystems. Many of our open forest and heathland plants have adaptations to deal with it, and many […]
Queensland has a sizeable number of large to very large land snails typically referred to as the hadroid snails, belonging to the family Camaenidae. A number of lineages are involved and this article features one such genus of Dark and Banded Snails from south-eastern Queensland whose species chiefly inhabit rainforest and dry vine thickets along […]
I personally value the natural environment, and for me, national parks are a way to both protect nature and experience it. One of my favourite parks is D’Aguilar: it’s close to home with plenty of engaging walks and camping opportunities. D’Aguilar’s relative proximity to Brisbane city serves to frame the remainder of my remarks, as […]
Welcome to a new edition of Protected and a new decade! I hope you all enjoyed family and Christmas celebrations whilst no doubt being concerned/alarmed by the ongoing drought, associated fires with loss of life, property and wildlife. This edition contains articles on our recently held Ecotourism Seminar and the ensuing debate, on wildlife after […]
Growing up in Kenya, my understanding of a national park has been a sunrise or sunset game drive to watch the big five animals in their natural setting. On this daytrip my goal was to understand how people in Queensland use their National Parks. Early Monday morning Marika, Laura and I set off with Andrew […]
Dr Barbara Baehr is an arachnologist based at the Queensland Museum. She has described over 600 species of spiders to date. Dr Baehr made headlines in July when she and colleagues described five new species of Australian jumping spider.
