The Mitchell River catchment in Tropical North
Queensland, Australia, spans 72,000 square kilometres
(the size of Tasmania) across the base of Cape
York Peninsula. It incorporates five major river
systems: the Mitchell, Alice, Palmer, Walsh and
Lynd, and involves four local governments; namely Tablelands
Regional (formerly Mareeba), Cook, Carpentaria and Kowanyama
Communities Local Government Area.
The Mitchell River Watershed Management Group
Inc (MRWMG) arose out of a conference on watershed
management held at Kowanyama in 1990. The catalyst
for this conference was the concern for the river’s
health felt by the Traditional Owners when they
first started flying to Cairns and saw the catchment
from the air. The MRWMG, has grown into an independent,
not-for-profit organisation working in partnership
with local communities and stakeholders to:
- create a balanced approach
to the use of the catchments resources; and
- achieve sustainable and
integrated management of the Mitchell River
catchment area.
Read more about us,
our projects, news
and issues, and about
the catchment in the relevant pages of this
web site. There are also pages dedicated to education
and awareness activities for kids, a publications area
containing a collection of internal and external
reports and other documents, a calendar
of events, and details of how you can become
involved. The Mitchell River Group is also
an endorsed tax deductible gift recipient and
we greatly appreciate donations.
The Mitchell River Group is an endorsed tax
deductible gift recipient and all donations
over AU$2.00 are 100% tax deductible. We greatly
appreciate donations to help continue and expand
the projects and assistance we provide to stakeholders
in the Mitchell River catchment.
If this is your first visit to our site, please
take some time to view our Current Projects page
to gain insight on some of the community and
environmental projects we are involved in.
The About Us and About
The Catchment pages tell the Mitchell
River Group story and outline the significant
features of the Mitchell River system and
catchment area.
To Make a Donation...
Click here to access our donation page.
It offers a secure payment facility linked
to the Westpac Bank that allows credit card transactions and
provides a Tax Invoice receipt upon payment. All donations
over AU$2.00 are tax deductible.
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Celebrating the Kowanyama Native
Title Determination on 22 October and Errk Oykangand
National Park handover on 23 October 2009
The Kowanyama community was celebrating a historic native
title determination, their first ever, when
their native title rights were recognised over
about 2,731sq km of land and waters . This is
Part A of a much larger claim over a total area
of 19,800sq km and includes the Kowanyama community
and a coastal strip approximately 160 kms long
from the Coleman River to the Staaten River.
Click here for
some images of the community celebrations.
The celebrations continued
on 23 October 2009 when Climate Change and Sustainability
Minister Kate Jones visited Kowanyama to hand
back ownership of the 37,000-hectare Mitchell-Alice
Rivers National Park to the region's Traditional
Owners, the Kunjen and Oykangand People.
"This is the first existing national park to be returned to
Traditional Owners," Ms Jones said.
The former Mitchell Alice Rivers National Park,
30 kilometres north east of Kowanyama, will be
renamed the Errk Oykangand National Park.
Upper Mitchell River Catchment (Julatten-Mt
Molloy Area) Wet Tropics Habitat Restoration - Small Grants
Scheme 2009-2010
The Mitchell
River Watershed Management Group has recently
received additional funding of $90,000 from the
Queensland government to provide grants for habitat
restoration works in the Wet Tropics area of
the upper Mitchell River catchment. This
funding will enable the recently completed habitat
restoration grants scheme to be extended for
another year.
The $80,000 of grants awarded to landowners
in the Julatten-Mt Molloy corridor in 2008-9
assisted them in restoring the habitat values
of their land. Individual projects have
replanted rainforest on cleared land (including
land used for grazing and sugarcane), restored
the vegetation in riparian (stream bank) areas
and fenced off wetland areas to exclude feral
pigs. Grants awarded between December 2008
and February 2009 have, to date, resulted in
the planting of at least 13,000 trees on 6.5
hectares of previously cleared land on 12 different
properties. The efforts of landowners have
both increased the habitat value of these properties
and improved the connectivity between the World
Heritage Wet Tropics sections either side of
this valley.
Landowners are invited to apply for grants,
typically from $2,000 to $6,000, for projects
making a contribution to the biodiversity of
the region through building habitat islands /
stepping stones and removing barriers to movement
of species between the protected areas of the
Wet Tropics World Heritage area. However,
requests for larger grants will be considered
for projects having a significant outcome in
key locations.
Grants can also be applied to the removal
of barriers to fish movement and the restoration
of wetlands and riparian vegetation to enhance
biodiversity in the streams of the project
area. Applicants will be expected to
make significant in-kind contributions in time
and resources, if not expenditure of additional
funds More
information
The closing date for applications is Friday
16 October 2009.
Grant
Application Form
EPA
Map of Ecosystems Map
of Project Area
How You Can Help Stop The Spread of Tilapia
in the Walsh and Mitchell River Catchments
Tilapia, a declared noxious fish originally
from Africa, can wipe out native fish species
and damage water quality if not detected and
removed early enough. Mitchell River
Watershed Management Group is working with
the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater
Research to provide the public with information
about the control of this pest fish species.
The attached
powerpoint presentation is all about the
successful Tilapia eradication campaign in
Eureka Creek in Oct. 2008 and the successful
return of native species.
If you catch a fish that looks
like Tilapia, take a photo of it, or
put it in a plastic bag, contact the Fisheries
Pest Fish Hotline on 13 25 23 or 1800 017
116 (A/H) and pass the photo or fish on
to someone who can confirm the identification
and take action.
Tilapia has spread through 3,000 kilometres
of the Burdekin River over a 4 year period
and will become the dominant species in this
catchment. The only way to prevent more waterways
becoming overwhelmed by Tilapia is for the
public to actively report any sightings and
enable an early and effective response wherever
possible.
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Tropical
Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK)
program
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The
Mitchell River forms part of the Tropical
Rivers and Coastal Knowledge program
(TRaCK), a significant $30 million
research program that is aimed at providing
science and knowledge to help with
the sustainable management of Australia¹s
tropical rivers and coasts...
find out more... |
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Quoll
Survey on Cape York
The Northern Quoll, once known as the native
cat, used to be common on Cape York Peninsula. It
apparently disappeared from the Peninsula in
the 1980s and early 1990s. It is likely that
the Cane Toad’s arrival was responsible
for this; quolls die when they try to eat the
poisonous toads.
The huge drop in numbers does not necessarily
mean they are extinct on Cape York Peninsula. Around
Lakeland Downs and Cooktown, Northern Quolls
have learnt to live with toads; though just how
is not known.
Have you
seen a quoll on Cape York?
Zoologists, John Winter and Scot Burnett have
a Caring for our Country grant to look for surviving
populations of the quoll on the Peninsula.
Scott will be training community groups, starting
with the Land and Sea Rangers at Lockhart River,
in the use of infrared cameras to look for quolls. John
is seeking the help of Cape York residents to
report any sightings of quolls.
A quoll is a marsupial, about the size of
a small domestic cat, has a brown body covered
with cream spots, a black, slightly bushy tail,
pointed snout and sharp teeth. Quolls are
predators and unfortunately tend to get a bad
name because they love to eat chooks.
If you see any or know of places where quolls
have been seen recently, please contact John
- phone 4097 0048, PO Box 151 Ravenshoe 4888,
or by email jw.winter@bigpond.com
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