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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 07 December 2006 |
THE much-needed expansion of Caloundra Road has begun. But four lanes of 100km per hour traffic are not fauna-friendly.
The
Department of Main Roads is attempting to minimise the environmental
damage it is causing by involving a local community group.
The
Mooloolah River Waterwatch and Landcare group (MRWL) is working closely
with the department of Main Roads and the developer FRH, conserving
what they can.
| Jan Kesby, co-ordinator of MRWL working to preserve nature
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Well before the first bulldozer was on site, Jan
Kesby, co-ordinator of MRWL was lighting fires. Many Australian native
plant species need fire to produce seed.
Last year, the areas
that have now been cleared were burnt to encourage the plants to seed
well. Jan and her crew of trusty volunteers collected seed from at
least 100 different species, including the endangered Christmas Bells. “We’re
keeping the seed source alive,” said Jan. “We’ve collected about 50
grass trees as well. They are now potted up in the MRWL nursery.
We’ll put these back onto the site when the roads finished.”
Plants
are not the only things being rescued by MRWL. A population of a
threatened species of frog, the wallum froglet, was found in the middle
of the new road. Big slabs of soil containing the frogs are being dug
up and transported to the nursery.
“We’ll keep the soil moist
and shaded and then hopefully, we’ll be able to put it back once
construction is finished. We wanted the frogs to be kept in their
habitat. The soil slabs also have a number of small, delicate wallum
plants and more seed,” said Jan.
Big slabs of soil containing the [threatened] frogs are being dug up and transported to the nursery.
A
fauna underpass will be constructed to allow the safe passage of
echidnas, frogs, reptiles and small mammals. A family of ducks have
already used it to cross the road.
A multi-purpose overpass will
also be constructed near Sattler’s Road. This will allow pedestrians,
bike riders and horses to cross safely. The native fauna has also not
been forgotten and the overpass will include a vegetated strip with
poles and ropes for the possums, koalas and gliders. The MRWL will
assist Main Roads in revegetating the areas leading up to and away from
the overpass. Both the underpass and overpass will be fenced to funnel
wildlife to the safe crossing points.
Main Roads is keen to
reuse and salvage whatever plants they can from the construction site.
A number of cabbage tree palms will be relocated and use to landscape a
round a bout on the connection road.
The rescue operation will
continue for some time yet. It’s anticipated that the soil slabs (with
frogs included) and some of the rescued plants will be put back into
the area surrounding the road development mid next year.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 December 2006 )
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Range News 2005 - ON 
