Ever heard of a cassowary?

Southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) are a fabulous Australian species, which is unfortunately significantly threatened in north Queensland, where they currently live. This species is protected under both Queensland and Commonwealth legislation, but legislation alone will not bring this species back from the edge of extinction. 

Cassowaries are one of Australia's flightless birds and looks much like an emu in stature, but has shiny black feathers, a uniquely coloured and wattled head and neck and a large 'helmet' on its head. It grows to approximately two metres in height and weighs between 55-75kg when mature. Chicks on the other hand are camouflaged and lack the distinctive 'helmet' until mature. An interesting fact is the male is the parent that raises the chicks until they are of an age to move into their own home ranges.

In Australia, this species' distribution is between Townsville in the south and Cooktown in the north and within this area occupies only rainforest and associated habitats. Further information on its distribution and habitat can be found on the Commonwealth government's website.

This species is particularly important, as it is considered a keystone species and is attributed to the survival and maintenance of the rainforest through its role as a distributor and processor of seeds and fruit from the plants that occupy this habitat. Many plant species in these areas have co-evolved with the cassowaries and are only able to survive as long as the cassowaries are there to keep them going (as cassowaries are the only species that can transmit their seeds, due to their size).

Threats the cassowaries face within their habitat include:

• habitat fragmentation and loss;
• habitat degradation;
• roads and traffic;
• dog attack;
• feeding by people, which brings them into urban environments;
• diseases; and
• natural catastrophic events such as cyclones. 

The first six dot points in this list are ongoing threats to cassowaries, with the impact of the last dot point being exacerbating by those preceding dot points. Over recent years, the area occupied by cassowaries has felt the brunt of two significant cyclone events. These cyclones tore the cassowary's habitat apart with significant loss in vegetation cover and food availability for the cassowaries. This saw many of the surviving cassowaries come into townships and cross roads where additional fatalities occurred as a result of the impact of vehicles and dogs.

This species does not have generations to live, if the impacts they currently face are not curbed. But rather they could be extinct within our lifetime. This is a real life or death situation and unlike the current political support seeking to maintain koalas just in south-east Queensland, this species needs political and social support to see its survival in the wild. Let's make a difference and become more aware of this situation and support actions that prevent or reduce some of the impacts this species is experiencing in North Queensland. Don't stand back and let a unique Australian species become extinct on your watch!

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What's happening in the environment where you live?

As part of the initial concepts and introduction to permaculture, keeping an observation journal is very important to begin to understand the natural patterns that you will either attempt to work within or modify once understood.

Things that I have noticed around my place over the last few weeks:

• the molasses grass has seeded and started to die off now
• the weather is extremely dry
• days are starting to get warmer during the middle of the day (t-shirt weather at midday)
• still have chilly mornings
• blue billygoat weed is flowering
• acacias (wattles) both planted and naturally occurring are flowering. This started back in June and various species have flowered over this time, but the beautiful yellow flowers are still prevalent around my area
• magpie babies have grown up and some have dispersed from their parental territory
• strawberries are in full production in my area
• increased numbers of roadkill around my area, mostly feral animals, but have noticed a number of dead bandicoots on the side of the road (guess it is the beginning of their breeding season or dispersal of juveniles).

Another interesting thing that occurred in my neighbourhood is that the neighbour on the either side of the creek has decided to clear fell an entire paddock. Thankfully the creek line has government protection and he has abided by this protection, but I now notice there is increased sunlight levels glimmering through the vegetation which was not visible before he cleared. To me that is a little sad because the vegetation is predominantly wet eucalpyt and rainforest and the increased light levels are likely to encourage the growth of weeds in this community and along the drainage line. There will also be changes to the microclimate for the animals and plants that have occupied this area up until now. Pin It

Health impacts living near roads and railways

In the near future my family may be moving towns. In light of this I have been searching around the broad region for a place to live. In looking for our current home I was always aware of the proximity of high voltage transmission lines and wanted to live with some sort of setback from major roads due to concerns relating to the potential health impacts of these sorts of infrastructure.

In the region we will be moving to there is a significant amount of large volume, relatively high speed roads criss-crossing the region and also a railway line that carries freight and commuter trains bordering the hinterland region. In light of the significant amount of transportation infrastructure within the living areas of this region I now would like to know more about the health impacts of these transportation corridors.

It seems that there is some association with sleep disruption due to noise with railways and health impacts, particularly in regards to learning capabilities for small children. However, I don't know at what distance from the railway infrastructure this association diminishes. I also saw a paper about increased asthma and rail and rail intersection, but again don't know at what distance this decreases. I also don't know what type (voltage) of electricity lines are utilised on the rail lines in the area and thus the potential health impacts of these.

Need to research this some more but if anyone has any information on this matter I would appreciate hearing about it.

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