The MRCCC acknowledges the traditional owners of the Catchment and their ancestors past and present.

...... 1 MRCCC Staff and Volunteers ...... 2 Current Projects ...... 2 Chairman’s Report ...... 3 Vale Don Sinclair...... 5 Mary Catchment Public Fund – 2018/ 19 Annual Report ...... 5 Treasurer’s Report...... 6 MRCCC Sunshine Coast Council Partnership Project– Eva Ford ...... 7 Frog monitoring ...... 8 Cane toad Challenge ...... 8 Find a Frog in February ...... 8 Mary River Catchment Waterwatch Program –Jess Dean ...... 9 National Waterbug Blitz ...... 10 Gully Erosion Control Program Reef Trust Phase II (2016-2018) – Brad Wedlock ...... 11 “Tools developed to build land management capacity in the grazing sector with specific focus on gully erosion management in the Mary River Catchment”...... 12 Improving water quality in Grazing lands of the Mary River Catchment - Reef Trust Phase III (2017-2019) ...... 13 Riparian revegetation and rehabilitation in the Mary River Catchment - Reef Trust Phase IV ...... 15 Seqwater /MRCCC partnership – Kath Nash ...... 17 Cat’s Claw Vine Control Offset Project – Belinda Wedlock ...... 18 Creating Community Connections: Some comfort for koalas at and Wolvi – Sarah Grimish...... 18 Mary River Cod Breeding Program and new Fishing Regulations ...... 19 Noosa Festival of Water Sunday 30th June 2019 ...... 20 Road Trip! MRCCC staff visit to riverbank restoration sites in the – Sarah Grimish ...... 21 2019 Sustainability & STEAM Schools Symposium – Belinda Wedlock ...... 21 Workshops, festivals, field-days, presentations (2018-2019) ...... 22 Educational activities including Find-a-frog in February ...... 23 Representations ...... 23 Conferences and seminars ...... 23 MRCCC Research Project Collaboration ...... 24 Submissions ...... 24 Cooloola Coastcare- ...... 25 Valley Bees Community Report for 2018- 2019 ...... 27 Koala Action Region ...... 29

Interest Sector Name Title Beef Mick Seeney Delegate Biocontrol Ross Smith Delegate Coastcare Dr Lindy Orwin Delegate Dairying Elke Watson Delegate Dept of Environment and Science Vacant Dept of Agriculture and Fisheries Vacant Dept of Natural Resources Vacant Education Steve Roach Delegate Environment lower Mike Moller Delegate Environment upper Narelle McCarthy Delegate Fishing Vacant Delegate Forestry Ernie Rider Delegate General Community Lower John Williams Delegate General Community Middle Ray Zerner Delegate General Community Upper Dave Sands Delegate General Community Western Peter Hughes Delegate Grazing Lands Graeme Elphinstone Delegate Gympie Field Naturalists Berry Doak Deputy Chair Horticulture small crops Bree Grima Delegate Horticulture tree crops Brice Kaddatz Delegate Irrigation Jim Phillips Landcare, Lower Mary Carol Neilson Delegate Landcare, Upper Mary Phil Moran Delegate Landholder/Project Participant Jon Hannon Delegate Landholder/Project Participant Bob Hood Delegate Land for Wildlife Annette Bourke Secretary Life Member Margaret Thompson Treasurer Life Member Jim Buchanan Delegate Fraser Coast Council Cr James Hanson Delegate Gympie Regional Council Cr Darryl Dodt Delegate Noosa Council Cr Brian Stockwell Delegate Sunshine Coast Council Denise Lindon Delegate Seqwater Vacant Delegate Small farms Steve Burgess Delegate Special Member Nai Nai Bird Delegate Special Member Glenda Pickersgill Delegate Special Member Ian Mackay Chairman Sugar Vacant Delegate Waterwatch Antoinette Augustinus Delegate Waterwatch Garth Jacobson Delegate

Brad Wedlock BAppSc (Natural Systems & Wildlife Management) - Specialist in grazing landscapes, sustainable Operations Manager grazing systems, fluvial geomorphology, riparian condition assessment and flora identification. Eva Ford BSc (Australian Environmental Studies) - Specialist in threatened stream frog surveys and Catchment Officer identification, and other threatened aquatic fauna. Water quality monitoring and data analysis, aquatic macroinvertebrate assessment, freshwater fish assemblage and monitoring programs. Kath Nash B.Sc. (Hons) B.App.Sc (Conservation and Park Management) Specialist in fire regimes, threatened Catchment Officer species habitat management, water quality monitoring and analysis, ecological function, environmental project planning and implementation, community engagement. Caitlin Mill BEnvSc –(Environmental Science) Aquatic ecosystem monitoring including water quality Catchment Officer monitoring and data analysis, GIS mapping, biocondition monitoring and project support Jess Dean BEnvSc – (Environmental Science)Coordination of the Waterwatch networks, data entry and Catchment Officer management, water quality monitoring, GIS mapping and project support, aerial monitoring Sarah Grimish M.Sc (Environment and Sustainability), B.Env.Hlth.Sc (Environmental Health Science) Experienced Catchment Officer with water quality and biocondition monitoring, report writing, project planning, extension. Bec Watson (PT) BSc. Hons Natural Sciences Durham University, UK – Agronomy. Gully restoration and Reef Trust Catchment Officer water quality and biocondition monitoring. Provision of extension services Belinda Wedlock (PT) BSc. Hons (Biology). Environmental project and program management, specialising in catchment Catchment Officer and water resource planning. Experienced in field survey techniques, research and analysis. Katie Johnson Bachelor of Biological & Environmental Science. Agricultural Extension Trainee, gully erosion program Debbie Seal Administration, financial management, and marketing. Glenbo Craig Volunteer - Codline Editor and Graphic design Sandra Noonan (PT) Wildnet Data Entry, Waterwatch data entry and Project Support Mackenzi Finger Administration and Project Support Ross Craig Volunteer groundsperson

Preparing the Mary River Threatened Aquatic Species Recovery Plan in conjunction with the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy. Reef Trust IV 2017-2022 in partnership with the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy with a focus on arresting streambank erosion in priority catchments of the Great Barrier Reef. Reef Trust III 2016-2019 - The MRCCC is a partner in a consortium of groups called the Reef Alliance, headed by the Qld Farmers Federation. Alliance partners work with grazing landholders to adopt grazing land management practices that achieve Reef Trust outcomes by reducing nutrient and sediment flowing to the Great Barrier Reef. Great Barrier Reef Foundation Gully Erosion Control Program in collaboration with the Australian Government targeting gully erosion on grazing properties. Implementing the Living with Threatened Species program in conjunction with Sunshine Coast Council Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring Program in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Science Seqwater strategic development and implementation of sustainable catchment management initiatives to deliver source protection outcomes in the Mary River catchment area 2017 - 2021 Community Waterwatch Networks in partnership with 97 volunteers monitoring 105 sites across the catchment, and Gympie, Noosa and Sunshine Coast Councils Goomboorian to Wolvi koala corridor– supported by Gympie Regional Council in 2018-2019 Section D upgrade - strategic Cat’s Claw Vine control program 2018-2023 Educational activities including publishing the Codline newsletter, organising the Noosa Festival of Water at Lake Macdonald, educational programs with school students, plus workshops, field days and other festivals and shows. Water quality monitoring for the Department of Transport and Main Roads at Bridge, Tin Can Bay Rd. Recovery to Resilience, Riparian Revegetation at two sites on the Mary River at Kenilworth through the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements Auspicing Valley Bees, Cooloola Nature, the Gerry Cook Fish Hatchery, the Koala Action Group, the Gympie Region STEM hub and supporting an ongoing Land for Wildlife Program in the Gympie and Fraser Coast .

Welcome to the annual report of the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee/ Association. I’ve long since abandoned the notion that my Chairman’s report provides a full and complete summary of the activities of this organisation over the past twelve months. Instead, in order to gain a fuller picture of the activities and achievements over the past year, I commend you to read the separate reports and accounts which make up this document, our Annual Report. 2019 has been a significant year in the life of this organisation. Earlier in the year we celebrated our 200th General Meeting, once again at Garapine overlooking the Mary River where the first meeting had taken place in November 1993. It was a special day and we marked the occasion with the production of a commemorative booklet of events and achievements during that time. This year also marks our 25th year of existence and it’s safe to say that, during that time, MRCCC has gone from strength to strength. Our catchment is both extensive and diverse. Though the main trunk of the river is just over 300 km long, the catchment that feeds it has an area of almost ten thousand square kilometres. The catchment has a wetter part and a (significantly larger) drier part. It is a long drive from the upper parts of the catchment, around Maleny, to the lower parts around Maryborough and . Our office is located centrally in Gympie for obvious reasons, but our task would be all the more difficult were it not for the great work of a number of other organisations throughout the catchment. In the upper catchment, Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group, Barung Landcare and Hinterland Bush Links inspire and assist landholders while Noosa District Landcare based in Pomona and Gympie Landcare offer invaluable assistance and expertise closer to Gympie and in the eastern parts. Further downstream, Tiaro Landcare and the Greater Mary Association, along with Lower Mary River Land and Catchment Care group, engage in activities in the northern part of the catchment. Partnerships seem to produce the best results. The Great Top: Ian Mackay and his trademark tophat Barrier Reef Foundation partnered with the MRCCC earlier this Centre: Former Chairmen of the MRCCC with Ian th year, continuing the momentum formed by the Reef Trust Gully Mackay at the 200 General Meeting; Phil Moran, Project which concluded in December 2018. Other important Jim Buchanan, Harry Jamieson and Peter Buchanan th partnerships include the previously mentioned groups, the Above: MRCCC staff at the 200 General Meeting; regional body, BMRG, the councils in the catchment (Sunshine Eva Ford, Brad Wedlock, Caitlin Mill, Sarah Grimish, Coast, Noosa, Gympie and Fraser Coast), and indeed the Steve Burgess, Belinda Wedlock, Kath Nash and Deb landholders throughout the length and breadth of the Seal catchment. We’re pleased to report good collaboration with Seqwater both in terms of assistance for landholders in the proximity of their water offtakes and also for assistance with the temporary relocation of our Mary River Cod hatchery, necessitated by the Lake Macdonald dam upgrade. In June Katie Johnston joined the MRCCC team. Katie is a recent science graduate from QUT, and is participating in a 12 month agricultural extension officer traineeship organised by the Qld Farmers Federation. The MRCCC hosts Katie and during the next 12 months she will be working alongside the MRCCC officers, landholders and volunteers learning many new skills. Katie will predominantly be involved with the gully erosion project, assisting Brad, Bec and Caitlin.

We’ve long identified the benefits of council–led Land for Wildlife Schemes. Sunshine Coast Council has been a leader in this field for years and we’re pleased to see Fraser Coast Council and Noosa again involved and we will be delighted to see the re-introduction of the scheme by Gympie Regional Council (GRC). We’ve been pleased also to be able to assist in the formation of a couple of bushcare groups and hope to see this develop further. This year we particularly commend the GRC for its work along the Gympie reach of the Mary. Gympie Landcare has led the way through repeated plantings over many years and recent councils have really embraced the river by continuing the work and upgrading and adding to a walking trail as well as kayak access points. The history of the Gympie reach of the Mary has long been exploitative, particularly during the mining days, and it’s great to see a change towards valuing and caring for it. Although the Colton coal mine project downstream of Maryborough now looks less likely to go ahead, the consortium of FIDO, MRCCC and GMA have been keen to engage in research to better understand water movement and sediment deposition in the estuary and and welcome the findings of Associate Professor Ron Johnstone, which will be presented at the AGM, with further research ongoing. We commend the late John Sinclair for his energy in advancing this research, and note, with great sadness, his passing earlier in the year. John had organised a number of cruises in the Great Sandy Strait which not only acted as a fundraisers for the research project, but provided all with a much better appreciation of both the history and geography around the lower end of the catchment. Our secretary Annette Bourke and I attended a special service to celebrate John’s life and enormous conservation achievements in the Masonic Hall in . The MRCCC, along with many others in our region were saddened to hear of the passing of Maree Prior, a passionate conservationist who dedicated her life to improving the environment on the Cooloola Coast. Maree’s work will be remembered not only through Cooloola Coastcare Vale champion John Sinclair. where her efforts were monumental, but much more widely. Image courtesy Luke Barrowcliffe Thanks to funding from the Federal Government through BMRG, a major river restoration pile field project just upstream of Kenilworth has been carried out with another planned to commence soon. It’s been heartening to watch the stabilisation of the Charles Street site following the pile field construction and subsequent plantings several years back. Some events seem to have become cemented into the annual calendar for MRCCC. The alliterative Find a Frog in February, a citizen science initiative, was again very well supported (see report elsewhere) while the Festival of Water in June at Lake Macdonald was celebrated with great weather, drew a very appreciative crowd, and seems to be becoming more and more popular each year. The highly successful STEAMzone day during National Science Week organised by Lindy Orwin was well supported by both presenters and participating schools. Last year’s Mary River Month, commencing on World Rivers Day and culminating in the Mary River Festival in Kandanga, included a myriad of activities as diverse as the two day Catchment Crawl (water sampling Vale Maree Prior - with John Sinclair across the sprawling catchment) and the delightful Spring in the Mary on Fraser Island photo competition which attracted some outstanding entries from local photographers. Thank you to Murray Views for their donation of a series of postcards featuring some of the winning entries from the competition. We’re now half way through this year’s Mary River Month and it’s shaping up to be every bit as good. This year’s Mary River Festival marks the tenth anniversary of Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett’s decision to say no to the ill-conceived Crossing Dam, which was an exceptionally well-received finale to a spirited three and a half year campaign. It’s interesting to note that Paradise Dam held up by the government at the time as model for dam building with its “state of the art fish way”, is now facing partial demolition and lowering, following a safety audit in the wake of several flood events on the Burnett. It’s understood that the fishway hasn’t been operational for years.

Separate accounts in this report tell of the successes of our auspiced groups, Valley Bees, the Koala Action Group and the Gympie Stem Hub. In looking back over the achievements of the year, I must pay enormous tribute to not only the delegates and staff who make up this organisation and who bring such wisdom, expertise and local knowledge to the table each and every meeting, but also the host of volunteer Waterwatchers, participating landholders and supporters. I also thank Glenbo Craig for his wonderful work in assembling Codline and his brother Ross for his dedication to looking after the externals around our home at 25 Stewart Terrace. This organisation runs on the generosity of time, experience and wisdom of so many people and I thank you all. I’d particularly like to thank my fellow executive; Margaret Thompson, Annette Bourke, Berry Doak, Bob Hood and Jim Buchanan, the most supportive Life Member any organisation could have. That our organisation functions so effectively is due in no small way to the work of Brad Wedlock our Operations Manager and Deb Seal our Administrative Officer. This year we finally began to embrace the reality that Deb will one day want to retire and the appointment of Mackenzi Finger as administration assistant looks to that much longer term eventuality. I’d also like to single out and thank Steve Burgess for his dedication to this organisation that goes far deeper than simply “being a delegate”. When we held meeting number 200 at Garapine back in March, we were joined by many who’d been active in the early days and were clearly impressed at how the organisation, commenced with one government appointed coordinator, had morphed into one employing a staff of ten. Well done all, past and present. We can look positively to the future. Ian Mackay, Chairman 

The Gympie community lost a passionate advocate for koalas with the recent passing of Gympie's VIP Mr Koala himself, Don Sinclair. Don’s extensive voluntary efforts in this region over decades for koala conservation were quite extraordinary. Don will be remembered as a quietly spoken gentle man, who was a true gentleman. His Land for Wildlife property at is a testament to his dedication to the preservation of koalas and koala habitat, having devoted many years of his life to revegetating the property and establishing a koala feed tree plantation. Sadly, in recent years, koalas disappeared from the Pie Creek area and from Don’s property. Don was also one of the first to recognise the value of the understorey for small birds and other native species. In his koala suit, Don visited schools and was actively involved in the Kidzone environmental expo, spreading his knowledge and love of koalas wherever he could. As a life member of the Australian Koala Foundation, for years Don would travel to Brisbane by train every month to attend their meetings and contribute to their work, including undertaking koala surveying to support the AKF’s nominations to have the conservation status of koalas upgraded. Don’s wife Marree and their children remember a kind, loving, generous family man, who will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Annette Bourke  

The Trustees of the Public Fund Committee are Jim Buchanan, Margaret Thompson, Elke Watson, Ian Mackay and Graeme Elphinstone – Committee Chair. The Committee operates under the auspices of the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy’s Register of Environmental Organisations. Its role is to provide an opportunity for environment organisations (such as the MRCCC), to obtain financial support by way of donations, from the broader community for use in pursuing integrated catchment management including the conservation and protection of the natural environment. This is facilitated by the provision of a tax incentive mechanism to donate to such organisations, on behalf of the Commonwealth Tax Deductibility Scheme.

All donations are made unconditionally. A donor may state a preference as to how they would like the gift used, but the registered organisation i.e. the MCPF, has an unconditional discretion as to how it will direct such funds. Thirteen (13) individual donations of money to the value of $22,695 ranging in size from $10 to $9750.00 were received during 18/19, together with a donation of property i.e. postcards, to the value of $2777.50. The funds were allocated for the use of MRCCC- associated integrated catchment management and research projects, and one allocation to another environmental group’s project was made. Funds to other environmental group’s projects are covered by the ‘Conduit Policy’ section under the Commonwealth Scheme Guidelines. In these situations, the MCPF Trustees acting as ‘responsible persons’ must satisfy themselves as to the merits of the proposed environmental project e.g. by way of documented project proposals, and further ensure that the funds are Belinda Wedlock demonstrating the power of the MRCCC’s correctly expended for the nominated purposes. The digital microscope at STEAMzone, purchased with donations to Public Fund cannot operate as a simple collection the Mary Catchment Public fund agency for tax-deductible donations intended by a donor to be passed onto another organisation or person. We encourage anyone who would like to donate funds to the Mary Catchment Public Fund and receive tax deductibility for those donations, to discuss it with one of the Trustees. The Trustees will ensure that all donations will be used for the benefit of the catchment and the environment. Graeme Elphinstone, Public Fund Trustees Chairman 

I am honoured to have continued as Treasurer of the MRCCC for the past financial year, and constantly amazed at how our group continues to grow as landholders embrace the work we do. Our financial bottom line is slightly up on last year, primarily because of new grant funding and projects. The MRCCC is extremely fortunate to have the expertise of Brad Wedlock when it comes to writing grant applications. We owe much of our financial stability to Brad and our staff, who are constantly writing grant applications and reporting back to funding bodies, as well as keeping abreast of funding rounds and criteria, and how they apply to the work of the MRCCC. Our recent success with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation is an example of tapping in to new funding bodies to continue the on-ground works aimed at remediating gully erosion, which was previously supported by the Federal Government’s Reef Trust program. The GBRF funding was conditional on employing an Agricultural Extension Trainee (Katie Johnson) funded by the Queensland Farmers Federation so in effect the MRCCC reaps the benefits not only of the project funding but also having an extra pair of hands to help with project work. The MRCCC also appreciates our new partnerships with HQPlantations who are supporting our Waterwatch networks, and the Gympie branch of the Bendigo Community Bank who are supporting Mary River month. These smaller partnerships are just as important as they help to spread the word about the MRCCC. Our financial position is also able to be maintained as a result of our relatively low overheads, because we own our premises and keep our utility bills low through the use of solar power and rainwater. On the negative side, the much lower term deposit interest rates mean that we will have to revisit the use of our bank interest to support unfunded activities, as the return on our investments has significantly diminished and there doesn’t appear to be any relief on the horizon in that regard. We will be looking for other sources of funding for some of these unfunded activities. Margaret Thompson, Treasurer

The upper Mary catchment largely lies within the Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) area, and the MRCCC has enjoyed partnerships with Council for many years. We are currently in the last year of a 3-year partnership program that delivers several programs around landholder engagement, project Mary River property visit for weed control project planning development and citizen science including Waterwatch, (see Waterwatch section of this Annual Report), Find a Frog in February, education activities and student workplace learning opportunities. The SCC Environment Levy provides support for landholders through the Landholder Environment Grants (LEGs), available to landholders who wish to take on projects that protect and improve the catchment. The MRCCC works closely with landholders to develop such projects, linking them with other MRCCC programs where possible. During 2019 there were two rounds of LEGs as SCC adjusted the annual timing of the program. The MRCCC currently has over 150 landholders in the hinterland that we work with or have worked with in the past. Property types vary from small lifestyle blocks to larger dairies and grazing enterprises. This year we have directly communicated with over 100 landholders in this area, working together on waterway and biodiversity protection and enhancement projects. Of those, 28 have applied for funding to assist with providing fencing and off-stream watering points to control stock away from sensitive riparian vegetation, environmental weed control, erosion control and revegetation. Several projects have dove- tailed into projects under the Seqwater, Reef Trust programs and the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements and National Landcare Program funding through the Burnett Mary Regional Group. We are supported by SCC to produce a short video of river processes as a support tool for our extension with landholders in the catchment to increase understanding of the mechanisms that underlie changes in river channel geometry and its pathway. Planning for the video is underway and the production will be available by June 2020.

The Belli/ Cedar Catchment Care Community is a group of local landholders that come together under the MRCCC four times a year. This year we focussed on strengthening the Giant barred frog habitat at Belli Creek Crossing No. 2 through weed control and mulching of the previous year’s revegetation. Amazingly we stumbled across a large female of this endangered species resting by the creek in leaf litter during our first weeding session. Council staff responsible for assisting community group work on Council land joined us for these events; a great addition to the team and all have been grateful for the extra support.

Three university students took the opportunity to work alongside the MRCCC staff during the year to learn from activities such as property visits, gully remediation, Waterwatch and the Catchment Crawl, macroinvertebrate and fish monitoring, data management and report writing. The students are able to also share their own knowledge with staff and occasionally become a paid staff member themselves when work is available. Their contribution is always welcome and we trust they leave us with a broader appreciation and understanding of catchment management that can be Work experience students Molly Kelleher and Isaak Kadel setting up incorporated into their line of work and their the aquatic plant growing tanks at MRCCC daily living.

The four long-term frog monitoring transects that cover 200 metres of creek length along Cedar, Belli, Six Mile and Cooroora Creeks are supported by the Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Shire Council. These are surveyed twice each summer season to monitor the persistence of our threatened stream- dependent frog species; the endangered Giant barred frog, and the vulnerable Cascade treefrog and Tusked frog. We are happy to report that all sites have continued to support the species known from the sites. During September 2019 the Cooroora Creek site was showcased at the Noosa Shire Council’s Bushcare Big Day Out and included an opportunity to show the transect and talk about the richness of species of that system. The vulnerable Cascade Tree Frog

This program is run by the University of Queensland Institute of Molecular Bioscience. The system they have developed of using the adult Cane toad poison to attract tadpoles of their own kind is a useful way to catch and control Cane toads without impacting on other species or inflicting pain on the amphibians. MRCCC is an affiliate member, which means we liaise with members of the public who want to control Cane toads on their properties, provide tadpole traps and baits and receive the data collected by Cane toad tadpole trappers. We have over 80 registered active and interested trappers, one of which designed the Hannon Taddie Trapper from recycled materials and several others who collect the raw materials and make traps for us to distribute. Having missed the 2018 breeding season, we are now prepared with plenty of traps and baits for Spring/Summer 2019. Emptying the “Hannon” Cane Toad Tadpole trap

2019 is the third year for the MRCCC’s Find a Frog in February (FFF) citizen science program that collects frog records from the community during the month of February. The area covered includes the Mary, Burrum, Noosa and Coastal catchments and is supported by Sunshine Coast Council, Noosa Shire Council, Gympie Regional Council and Fraser Coast Regional Council. This year we focussed on community workshops and school presentations to encourage participation and had wide media coverage leading up to and during the month of February. We also saw the completion of a 4-week frog module for primary school students thanks to Education Queensland support and the skill and dedication of Jean Pink from James Nash State High School. The program received 1368 frog records from around 250 Frog Finders surveying 90 sites. Over the past three years around 4100 records of 27 species have been submitted from 286 locations. Plans for FFF 2020 include filling species’ distribution knowledge gaps in the Sunshine Coast and Noosa Council areas as well as the sparsely populated western Mary River catchment. We are also working with several schools utilising the frog unit and setting up long-term frog monitoring sites for the students to study year after year. Focus will be on habitat requirements for frogs and monitoring populations.

The monthly data collected by Waterwatch volunteers provides the MRCCC with detailed information of baseline water quality throughout the catchment. Over the past year there have been 97 individuals, families and businesses collecting data in 9 distinct Waterwatch Network groups with 686 samples collected throughout the catchment. Thank you to all the volunteers who have assisted with this program over the last year. The efforts of landholders, local businesses, councils and other organisations who support the program financially and in kind is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to Garth Jacobson from Tiaro and Antoinette Augustinus from Pie Creek who have represented the Waterwatch Sector on the MRCCC for the past year and have assisted with the logistics and promotion of the Waterwatch program. In addition to physical and chemical data, Waterwatch volunteers record observations of Mary River aquatic fauna species, e.g. turtle sightings, water weeds and general river flow conditions. This information is recorded in the MRCCC Waterwatch database and information is provided for other MRCCC initiatives. Five new volunteers joined the Waterwatch Program over the past year. A big warm welcome to John King, Nick Barnes, Anne and Barry Burow and Jude Coates. Retiring Waterwatch volunteers recognised for their commitment to the program are Sally Chudleigh, Carly Shigrov-Green, Miriam English, Tanzi Smith and Will Kingham.

Waterwatch Network Waterways Monitored Upper Mary Skene Creek, Scrub Creek, Chinaman’s Creek, Little Yabba Creek, Booloumba Creek, Lobster Creek, Obi Obi Creek, Bridge Creek, Fryers Creek and the lagoon at Russell Family Park Kenilworth Coonoon Gibber, Mary River, Oakey Creek, Walli Creek, Coolabine Creek, Belli Creek and Cedar Creek East Gympie Deep Creek, Mary River, Six Mile Creek, Peter and Paul Watton Gully and Creek West Gympie Pie Creek, Three Mile Creek, Glastonbury Creek, Eel Creek and Calico Creek to Kandanga Creek, Three Mile Creek, Araucaria Creek, Yabba Creek, Caseys Creek, Derrier Creek, Traveston Creek, Coles Creek, Mary River and Amamoor Creek & Wide Bay Wonga Creek, Mary River, Fat Hen Creek and Wide Bay Creek Tiaro , Mary River, Gutchy Creek, Tanyalba Creek, Deep Creek, Ooramera Creek, Goora Creek, Spring Creek, Fay Smith , Ululah Lagoon and Saltwater Creek Munna Munna Creek, Boompa Creek, , Eel Creek, Dry Creek, Teebar Creek, Chinamans Gully and Calgoa Creek Tinana Sandy Creek, Tinana Creek, Yards Creek, Big Sandy Creek, Ulirrah Creek, Coondoo Creek, Tagigan Creek, Tinana Creek, Ross Creek, Wolvi Creek and Hines Creek

 97 individuals, families and businesses volunteering time to support water quality monitoring in the Mary River Catchment  686 water samples collected throughout the catchment  105 sites sampled at least once during the past year  71 streams monitored Financial support for the program comes from Gympie Regional Council and Sunshine Coast Council. HQPlantations are donating funds from 2018 to 2020 to purchase new Waterwatch testing equipment. Community sampling is supplemented by data collected by HQPlantations from the Toolara and Imbil forestry areas and by QP&WS from Conondale National Park. These areas include tributaries with quite unusual characteristics and covering large Student Halena Scanlon and Jess Dean with the FLT90 portable sections of the catchment. The information HQP and water quality monitoring field equipment QPWS staff provide helps MRCCC gain a holistic picture of water quality in the Mary River catchment.

During October 2018 a barbeque was held at the MRCCC Resource Centre where Gympie Region Waterwatch volunteers were introduced to macroinvertebrates (waterbugs) and were presented with the results from the Gympie Region Waterwatch Report (2016-2018). The most recent Waterwatch reports for each region can be found on the MRCCC website www.mrccc.org.au under the Projects tab on the Waterwatch page. The logistics of moving water testing kits in and out of Gympie, and between diverse locations, on a reliable schedule would be a challenge, without the support of many local individuals and businesses. The MRCCC is grateful for the assistance of Sauers Garden Produce Gympie and Cooroy, B & H Rural Tiaro, Ross Creek Store, Widgee Store, Amamoor Store, Barung Landcare, Mapleton Realty, Conondale Store and the Kenilworth Garage for holding and transporting kits for volunteers to collect. There will always be additional locations to be monitored and retiring volunteers to replace. If you have easy access to a section of the Mary River or one of its many tributaries and are able to contribute 1 hour a month there will be space for you.

John Gooderham and Cecil Ellis from the National Waterbug Blitz Team travelled from and to hold a two day Waterbug training workshop in collaboration with the MRCCC and Grassroots Alliance, Noosa in August 2019. The introduction session was held on the first day where participants met at the Noosa Botanical Gardens to learn how to safely and effectively sample and identify Waterbugs. The second day was held at the Mary River, Traveston Crossing where sampling techniques were expanded upon and participants gained Agreed Level Taxonomy (ALT) accreditation. The National Waterbug Blitz team will be making their way around holding workshops to train and encourage people to get out to their local waterbody and use the Waterbug Blitz app (free to download from the app store or Google Play) to identify and records observations. Head to their website for more information: www.waterbugblitz.org.au The MRCCCRight: will Staff hold and another volunteers waterbug with John trainin g sessionGooderham for Waterwatch and Cecil volunteersEllis learning throughout to sample 2020!and identify waterbugs (macroinvertebrates)

The MRCCC Reef Trust Gully Erosion Control project was finalised in December 2018 after 3 years of implementation. The MRCCC successfully sought new funding in December 2018 from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Foundation to continue this work for another 2 years. This report will concentrate on the recently completed project (2016-2018). Over the three years of the project 40 properties were involved, with 51 gullies remediated. Approximately half the properties involved were termed “Commercial” or “Sub-commercial” grazing enterprises (16 out of 40 enterprises). It’s calculated that approximately 1934 tonnes of fine sediment was saved from erosion through these gully remediation works. The primary project area focused on the Western Mary catchments – Munna, Wide Bay, Widgee, Glastonbury, Myrtle, Tanyalba, Ooramera and Benarige Creek sub-catchments where gully erosion is prevalent on the highly dispersive sodic sub-soils. To broadly identify where sodic subsoils occur in the Western Mary catchments (and beyond) the CSIRO Atlas of Australian Soils Landscape units Tb69 and Tb70 provide a strong indication of prevalence of gully erosion. With this information, areas of likely gully erosion were mapped and targeted for project works. Location No. of properties Brooweena/ Teebar/ / Glen Echo (Munna Creek) 7 Widgee / 6 / Sexton/ Miva 5 Tiaro/ Yengarie/ 4 Gympie/ Goomboorian/ Wolvi 4 Glastonbury 3 Mary Valley 3 Kilkivan/Kimbombi 2 Curra/ Glenwood 2 Mount Urah 2 / 2

On-ground projects involved fencing of the gully area to manage stock access and allow natural recovery where highly dispersive sodic sub-soils dominated. Some project sites had existing gully fencing that was incorporated into the project, e.g. sections of the fenced gully area was revegetated or rock chutes were constructed. Many of the projects also involved the provision of alternate stock water supplies by establishing new cattle camps higher in the landscape away from gullies and drainage lines through the installation of new tanks / troughs. By the completion of the project, 4 professionally designed large scale rock chutes were constructed in the Mt Urah and Netherby districts. In these gullies, soil losses up to 1,000 tonnes per year had been calculated before the gully remediation work commenced. These large gullies currently contribute the vast majority of sediment, but also have higher inherent risks due to the unstable nature of the highly dispersive soils on site. Many smaller gullies were treated through this project, particularly those that potentially could become large-scale gullies in the future. At present, these gullies only contribute small quantities of fine sediment, but if left unchecked could become large scale issues in the future. Floodwaters caused by in April 2017 passed through one of the rock chute gully erosion project sites only weeks after the remediation works were completed. The Powerline gully Mt Urah project functioned as designed, with minimal follow-up work required. Projects involving Projects involving Projects Projects involving rock chute/ gully Projects involving new gully fencing new stock watering involving head drop structures (incl geofabric leaky weirs/ porous eg tank, troughs revegetation drop structures) check dams 23 19 7 8 13

The MRCCC is also trialling the use of geofabric, trenched and fastened to the face of the gully head (geofabric drop structures) as a cost effective method compared to constructing rock chutes. This method is particularly useful on sites with difficult access for machinery and rock. Initial trials of this technique have been successful with three geofabric drop structures built on a property at . The first of these was built in 2012 and the site has endured flood flows caused by Cyclone Oswald, Marcia and Debbie with the geofabric structure remaining intact, and more importantly, preventing any further movement of the gully head upstream. This work will continue, with more geofabric linings to be built on other properties, through the Geofabric structure built to prevent gully erosion at Kinbombi GBR Foundation project. During the project 13 landholders constructed a series of leaky weirs or porous check dams (PCD) in their gullies. A variety of methods and interpretations of a porous check dam construction has been employed by landholders, which have proved successful at depositing and building up fine sediment in the gully floor. The fine sediment silt fans that have formed above the weir were planted into using either African star-grass or Pangola runners (stoloniferous/ running grass species) to smother the bare ground, slowly build up the floor of the gully and stabilise the gully head, walls and floor.

A monitoring program was developed that captures information of past erosion rates of gullying, ie tonnes of sediment lost through erosion. To determine the historical rate of gullying, interpretation of historical aerial photography (accessed back to 1940-1950’s), or anecdotal evidence was used. Monitoring points were also established to determine the recent rate of erosion before work commenced through permanent markers eg. measuring the gully head to a fixed star picket. Monitoring also occurred after the project work had been completed to determine if erosion was still occurring. In total, 58 monitoring points were established on 30 participating properties. The monitoring has shown the significant increase in groundcover in gullies that have been managed for stock access (wet season spelling or stock exclusion). Due to increased groundcover and active management of stock access the gully heads have not advanced since the implementation of the gully erosion projects.

Two papers were prepared and presented to national and international conferences between 2016 and 2019 based on the findings of the gully erosion control project. Ninth Australian Stream Management Conference, Hobart, August 2018 “Tools developed to build land management capacity in the grazing sector with specific focus on gully erosion management in the Mary River Catchment”. Eighth International Gully Erosion Control Symposium, Townsville, July 2019 “Understanding the demographics of current gully erosion project participants to enable a targeted approach to Gully Remediation into the future”. The Mary River is the southern-most of these reef catchments, and has been identified as a priority catchment for remediation because approximately 250,000 tonnes of sediment is discharged annually (mainly during flood events) from the Mary River into the southern Great Barrier Reef. With an estimated ~75% sediment delivery ratio, the Mary River is highly efficient at discharging sediment to the southern Great Barrier Reef. The grazing sector is the largest single land manager i.e. about 70% of the catchment area. In the Mary River catchment, streambank and gully erosion has been identified as the largest contributor of sediment and nutrients to the southern reef. Consequently Reef Trust projects are largely focused on practices to improve gully erosion and riparian zone management in the grazing landscape.

In 2019 the 3rd phase of the Reef Trust projects “Improving water quality in grazing lands” was finalised by the MRCCC. The MRCCC is part of a consortium of groups called the “Reef Alliance”, headed by the Qld Farmers Federation. The Reef Alliance was tasked with the delivery of the Reef Trust Phase III project across the entire Great Barrier Reef (GBR) catchment. This project commenced in 2017 and concluded in June 2019. The MRCCC continued the successful working partnership with the Gympie District Beef Liaison Group. The aim of this project was to work directly with grazing landholders in reef catchments to adopt grazing land management practices that achieve Reef Trust outcomes in terms of water quality, and nutrient and sediment losses to the reef. The MRCCC Reef Trust Phase III project team, comprised of Brad Wedlock, Caitlin Mill, Sarah Grimish and Graeme Elphinstone, provided graziers with extension support, technical advice and training to implement eligible on- ground projects using best management practices (BMP) within priority areas of the Mary River catchment. The priority sub-catchments targeted for the Reef Trust Phase III projects were identified by the QLD Government catchment model called “Source” as the highest contributors of sediment to the southern GBR. A key criterion for Reef Trust Phase III was participation in the Grazing BMP self-assessment program. Between 2017 and 2019, there were 4 Grazing BMP workshops held specifically for the Reef Trust Phase III participants in the Mary River catchment. Graeme Elphinstone and Brad Wedlock delivered the “Grazing Land Management” module at these workshops, customizing the presentation to closely align with Reef Trust priorities.

Grazing BMP workshop date Number of enterprises Number of enterprises in priority area July 2017 (Imbil) 15 (21 individuals) 13 November 2017 (Kybong) 10 (14 individuals) 9 May 2018 (Kybong) 9 (10 individuals) 6 May 2019 (Kybong) 23 (25 individuals) 15 Totals 57 enterprises 43 enterprises During and after the Grazing BMP workshop the participants identified areas where improvements could be made to their enterprise and grazing land management practices. In partnership with the landholder the MRCCC conducted 1-on-1 property consultations involving detailed assessments of the property’s grazing land condition, including pasture condition and riparian zone condition. A property map displaying paddocks, areas of each paddock (ha), grazing land types, and existing and planned infrastructure was also developed. Property-scale safe carrying capacity calculations based on the recommendations from the Grazing Land Type booklets and current land condition was also completed with the landholder. These assessments help identify on-ground project works focused on improving grazing land management and Reef Trust water quality outcomes.

Left: Top GLM field walk at Kandanga Creek, March 2019 and below field walk at Mumburi, Carters Ridge, May 2019 Above: Grazing BMP Workshop at Garapine, May 2019

The following property consultations, on-property condition assessments and property maps were completed with participating graziers.

On-property Pasture Riparian zone Property maps Property level Atlas of consultations condition condition with paddocks & grazing land Australian Soil & extension assessments assessment infrastructure type maps interpretations Number 42 41 18 22 20 23 The MRCCC also organised a series of small group activities, or linked in with activities of other groups such as the Gympie District Beef Liaison Group and Gympie and District Landcare Group to provide capacity building opportunities. Topic Where Numbers When Grazing BMP workshop Imbil 22 Feb 2017 Landcaring in the Gympie district – pastures, riparian zones, Amamoor Creek, 40 March 2017 grazing land management Bunya Grove Farm Drought management workshops Gympie & Teebar 40 May 2017 Forage budget field walk Amamoor 25 Jun 2017 Grazing BMP workshop Imbil 20 July 2017 Soils interpretation workshop Gympie & Moy Pocket 31 Aug/Oct 2017 Grazing BMP workshop Kybong 14 Nov 2017 Landcaring in the Gympie district – pastures, riparian zones, Muster Park, Widgee 35 March 2018 grazing land management Grazing BMP workshop Garapine, Kybong 10 May 2018 Forage budget field walk Kybong 12 May 2018 Landcare in the Gympie district – pastures, riparian zones, grazing Kandanga Creek 40 March 2019 land management Grazing BMP workshop Garapine, Kybong 25 May 2019 Forage budget field walk Kybong 23 May 2019 Mimburi pastures field walk Mimburi, Carters Ridge 22 June 2019 Gympie District Beef Liaison Group Kandanga Creek 40 Jun/ Jul 2019

Left: Top: Peter Smit with riparian fencing on Pie Creek. Below: Trough and tank at Lower Wonga. Above: Brad Wedlock, Graeme Elphinstone and Col Glasby with trough at Glastonbury

Fourteen (14) on-ground projects were approved by the independent assessment panel. These project participants received incentive funding to implement projects they had identified during the Grazing BMP and on-property consultations. The fourteen projects involve riparian fencing and re-locating cattle camps away from riparian zone and drainage lines by installing stock watering points using tanks and troughs high in the landscape. These projects are developed with the landholder following a rigorous process of negotiation to ensure high standards of project delivery and good in-kind support is provided to the project.

Project Location 1. Thornside Creek Widgee 2. Upper Cedar Creek Curramore – Maleny plateau escarpment 3. Upper Kandanga Creek Upper Kandanga 4. Upper Happy Jack Creek Ridgewood 5. Harper Creek Conondale

6. Pie Creek Mooloo 7. Widgee Creek Lower Wonga

8. Yabba Creek Imbil

9. Upper Eel Creek Langshaw

10. Eel Creek Langshaw 11. Eel Creek Langshaw 12. Little Creek Glastonbury 13. Wide Bay Creek Woolooga 14. Amamoor Creek Amamoor

Over the past 10 years the MRCCC has implemented projects relating to improving downstream impacts upon the Great Barrier Reef, i.e. Reef Rescue and the Reef Water Quality Grants Program. The Reef Trust Phase III project had many new innovations which were refined into a format that is grazier-relevant. These new concepts have proven to be very worthwhile for the landholder and the MRCCC, and have improved the standards set by the previous Reef Rescue and Reef Water Quality Grants Program.

The Australian Government’s Reef Trust Phase IV funding is focused on riparian revegetation activities in priority catchments of the Great Barrier Reef including the Mary River catchment. The MRCCC is now into the second year of the “Great Barrier Reef Riparian Zone Management - a Mary Catchment Project”. This project will operate until 2022. The concept of the MRCCC Reef Trust Phase IV project proposal was to build on the successful work completed during the past 6 years of the Biodiversity Fund project implementation - particularly targeting riparian revegetation activities in core reaches of the Mary River and tributaries. The main focus of this project is revegetation and remediation of key reaches of the Mary River, ie. those reaches that contribute high sediment loads to the Great Barrier Reef. During the past year the MRCCC prepared and modified concept plans to enable implementation of the following four target reaches: Reef Trust Phase IV target reach Mary River & Tributaries Rehabilitation Plan reach Mary River, Kenilworth to Moy Pocket MAR 6 and MAR 7 Mary River, Traveston Crossing to Dagun MAR 8 and MAR 9 Middle Amamoor Creek AMA 2, AMA3, AMA4 Middle Kandanga Creek KAN 2, KAN 3, KAN 4

A fifth project reach has commenced centred around the Mary River near Miva in the last 12 months. In this reach, a number of sugar cane properties on the Mary River have been engaged in riparian revegetation and environmental weed control activities. The Amamoor and Kandanga Creeks have been selected for inclusion in the Reef Trust IV project as these tributaries are identified as high sediment load contributors according to the QLD Government “Source” catchment modelling program, and are also valuable as riparian vegetation seed sources into specific reaches of the Mary River.

Right: Two revegetation projects, upstream of Kenilworth which required significant bank stabilisation including the use of pile fields and rock toe protection.

The Mary River has very few remnant rainforest areas remaining that can provide seed for regeneration. Consequently, maintaining the condition of the tributaries with good remnant riparian rainforest is critical for the replenishment of seed into the Mary River. A key focus of the project in recent months has been to hold a series of farm/river walks involving neighbouring landholders to start developing larger scale on-ground projects that link properties along the river in the Traveston Crossing area. In the Kenilworth reach some large scale revegetation projects occurred during Summer 2018/19 on properties near the confluence of Walli Creek. A large scale revegetation project was recently completed on the Carter property immediately upstream of Kenilworth township. These projects were implemented in conjunction with the construction of pile-fields to stabilise the toe of the riverbank. The pile-field projects were funded by the National Landcare Program with funding delivered through the BMRG.

A key aspect of this Reef Trust project is a strong monitoring program. To date, 12 project sites have pre-implementation monitoring locations established using the CSIRO Toolbox monitoring program. To date the following activities have been completed.

Activity 2018/2019 Area of riparian revegetation 3.8 ha Number of seedlings established 18,000 Riparian fencing installed 5.25km Area of riparian zone protected by fencing 13 ha Number of new troughs installed 12 Area of environmental weed control 34.1 ha Number of landholders involved 29 Number of landholders involved in Mary River, Kenilworth reach 8 Number of landholders involved in Mary River, Mary Valley reach 13 Number of landholders involved in Kandanga Creek reach 5 Number of landholders involved in Amamoor Creek reach 3

Seqwater is responsible for providing a safe and secure water supply to the customers and communities of . By investing in catchment management and source protection, Seqwater can reduce water treatment costs, improve asset life and engage with communities and stakeholders in a way which demonstrates they are focused on collaborative actions to deliver a safe, reliable, resilient and value for money water supply. Seqwater has four drinking water offtakes in the Mary River catchment (Mary River Goomong Pocket, Mary River Kenilworth, Lake Macdonald and Jimna) that provide potable water to local communities and regionally via the Seqwater Grid. The Mary River catchment is heavily impacted with degraded waterways and a landscape dominated by agriculture, presenting a potential hazard to source water quality.

The 2018/2019 financial year was the third year of the Seqwater - MRCCC partnership. The purpose of the partnership is to improve water quality upstream of the drinking water offtakes operated by Seqwater in the Mary River catchment. The outputs of the third year can be summarized as follows:

 Controlling stock access with 5.65 km of new riparian fencing resulting in 31.25 ha of riparian zone protected  Control of environmental weed vines on 3 high priority properties covering 22 ha,  9,600 Jewel Beetles (Hylaeogena jureki) were released at 12 locations within the Goomong reach. These supplement 10,360 beetles that were released last year. 1,000 Tingid Bugs (Carvalhotingis visenda) were released at 2 locations.  Improved Effluent Management on a Priority 1 dairy  Installation of 3 off-stream watering troughs  On-ground work on 8 properties

 Control of environmental weed vines across 65.2 ha, 16.5km of stream  Release of 5200 Jewel and Madeira beetles across 26 sites  New revegetation and maintenance of existing revegetation across 1.3 ha  On-ground work on five properties and numerous other properties through the weed control project.

 Completion of 2018 Catchment Crawl covering 34 sites throughout the Mary River catchment, analysis and reporting of data.  Engagement with the Dairy Industry via site inspections and through established networks including the Queensland Dairy Top: This effluent solids storage bay heralds a Organisation and the Subtropical Dairy major milestone for this landholder who now uses the Program. effluent solids to fertilise his grazing land. Below: Pre and post cleaning of trafficable solids trap This on-ground work will translate into better management of dairy effluent and improvements in riparian condition and as a consequence, improvements in water quality.

MRCCC has been working with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) along lower Six Mile Creek within Gympie Regional Council area. The new section of the Bruce Highway plans to cross Six Mile Creek which contains a threatened ecological community of Sub-Tropical Lowland Rainforest (STLR). Under the approval process from the Federal Government, DTMR are required by the Federal Government to ensure there is no net loss of quality or quantity of STLR as a result of the construction. In 2017 MRCCC mapped and identified cat’s claw vine infestations in the lower Six Mile Creek. MRCCC developed a strategic plan to effectively control the cat’s claw vine based on sound bushcare remediation principles. Collaboration with the stakeholders was used to develop a control plan designed to direct works from the periphery of the infestation into the core. This resulted in a small but dense infestation upstream of the proposed highway being targeted and a separate area immediately upstream of the proposed route also targeted. Year 1 (2018/19) of the on-ground cat’s claw creeper vine (CCCV) control works was carried out at three properties in the Glanmire area including Roadcraft and the Six Mile Rest Area, and at three properties in the Traveston area, Nathan Davis and Steve Husband, including the Cobb & Co Nine Mile Camp. Gympie and District Landcare Tandur. undertook the work at Glanmire, while Noosa and District Landcare Group undertook the work at Traveston. Planning for Year 2 (2019/20) of the CCCV on-ground control works is complete and will see work in the Glanmire area extend upstream from last year’s work to three adjoining properties. In the Traveston area, work will continue as the extent of cat’s claw infestation is extensive, and with two new upstream landowners opposite Cobb & Co. To complement this project, Gympie Council has funded Noosa Landcare to undertake cat’s claw control on their road reserve on Six Mile Creek along Old Noosa Rd. Through this project we have met many enthusiastic ‘cat’s claw destroyers’ who have spent many hours, days, months and years in some cases, patrolling their riparian areas for this invasive pest. Whilst most landholders are making a great impact, some are overwhelmed at the extent of cat’s claw invading their properties. It has been a great relief to them to have a helping hand and an input of enthusiasm to tackle this pest. We are continually meeting new neighbours and riparian landholders along the length of Six Mile Creek catchment wishing to be involved with this project, so there appears to be no lack of opportunities as to where to direct our future funds as this project continues.

Southeast Queensland’s koala populations currently face many threats, with perhaps the most serious of these being loss of habitat. There are many landholders in the Gympie region who are concerned about the survival of this iconic species, and many have taken steps to encourage koalas onto their properties. The Goomboorian and Wolvi areas contain important habitat for koalas, with many residents reporting sightings (and sometimes unfortunately deaths) to contribute to koala data which MRCCC enters into the database, WildNet. Over the last three years, MRCCC has been fortunate to receive funding An encounter with a Giant barred frog at the for on-ground works to improve koala habitat in the Goomboorian-Wolvi Sunset, Seedlings and Sedgefrogs workshop koala corridor. In 2018/19, Gympie Regional Council funded two community plantings at Wolvi and Goomboorian to establish 600 koala food trees (300 per planting) and run workshops in conjunction with the plantings to raise awareness about the threatened species that inhabit this special area of the Mary River Catchment. Previously, six community plantings were held between 2016 and 2018, funded by the Federal Government’s 20 Million Trees program. This brings the total number of community plantings held in the Goomboorian/Wolvi area to eight since 2016. Since the conclusion of the 20 Million Trees project in June 2018, koalas have been spotted in planted trees at three different properties. These trees are only between two and a half and three years old! This is a great outcome which highlights the need for more koala food trees in this area as the koalas are clearly in need of more good quality habitat to feed and shelter.

The first Gympie Council-funded community planting, Sunset, Seedlings and Sedgefrogs, was held on the 5th of December 2018 at a property on Tagigan Road at Wolvi. This property is mapped as high value remnant and high value rehabilitation area. The planting began in the afternoon with 18 volunteers planting 300 koala food trees on the banks of Tagigan Creek in just one and a half hours. This was followed by supper and a frog workshop and frog survey of Tagigan Creek. Froggers were not disappointed, as one of the first frogs spotted was a healthy endangered Giant barred frog! Two more Giant barred frogs were spotted, along with the promised Eastern sedgefrogs, Green tree frogs, Stoney Expert local wildlife rescuer and carer Rachel Lyons delivered an creek frogs and Striped marsh frogs. Emerald informative and educational presentation about koala populations spotted tree frogs and Great barred frogs were also heard calling. The trees planted have grown fast; at a recent visit many were over one metre tall. The second community planting, Gums at Goomboorian, was held on the 17th of April 2019, at a unique property at Goomboorian. This property is essentially separated into two halves by Tin Can Bay Road, with excellent eucalypt forest on the eastern side of the road, and mature riparian rainforest habitat along Tinana Creek on the western side of the road. This area was well traversed by koalas before the road was constructed, so unfortunately this stretch of Tin Can Bay Road is a hotspot for vehicle strikes resulting in koala deaths. At the time of writing this article, four koalas have been killed by cars on this stretch in the last few weeks. The recent installation of flashing signs alerting motorists to the presence of koalas and urging them to slow down is a great initiative from local landholders and the Department of Transport and Main Roads. Over 30 people attended Gums at Goomboorian, making light work of the 300 trees planted. This planting was complemented by a short koala workshop presented by Rachel Lyons, Noosa Landcare and a highly experienced wildlife carer. Participants also enjoyed a guided walk around the property with Rick Sizer from Gympie Landcare, where we were lucky enough to spot a koala. If you are interested in learning more about the project don’t hesitate to contact the MRCCC office and like the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee, Creating Connections and Koala Action Group Gympie Region Facebook pages for future updates.

Can you believe that it was almost 50 years ago when Gerry Cook from Cooroy recognised that Mary River cod numbers and cod habitat were rapidly declining, and a captive breeding program for the species was pioneered? Since the early 80’s, with much trial and error and the ongoing dedication of many volunteers, at last count, over 750,000 Mary River cod fingerlings have been released since the breeding program began, for both conservation stocking in the Mary River catchment, and for recreational fish stocking in specific impoundments and waterways in south east Queensland waterways. Today, most land managers throughout the catchment have embraced the need to protect and conserve cod habitat and improve water quality, not just for threatened aquatic species but also to improve productivity and reduce sediment and erosion. Despite all the work that’s been done, threats to the cod’s survival remain, including loss of habitat and illegal fishing. The Queensland New fishing regulations have been passed to Government recently passed new legislation aimed at protecting Mary protect Mary River cod during the breeding River cod, particularly during the breeding season from August to season from 1 August to 31 October October.

Mary River cod spawning is triggered by rising water temperature and usually occurs during August/September. The male Mary River cod guards the eggs after spawning, and is very protective of the nest. If a male cod is caught and removed or distracted by a passing lure, even for a short time, the entire season’s offspring are likely to die or be eaten. This is where the fate of the species lies squarely in the hands of anglers. For years the cod has been classified as a no take species and it’s illegal for an angler to “target” them in the Mary River Catchment. No angler ever admits to specifically fishing for cod but many accounts and footage on social media suggest otherwise. For a number of years there has been a “closed season” to protect cod in the breeding season, which many anglers seem to be unaware of. The new fisheries legislation designates that the Mary River and tributaries upstream from the junction of Six Mile Creek and the Mary River, including Six Mile Creek will be closed to all line fishing (or possession of a fishing line) from the 1st August to the 31st October to protect Mary River cod during spawning. This does not include Baroon Pocket Dam, Borumba Dam and Lake Macdonald. In addition, Tinana Creek and its tributaries upstream of Teddington Weir will be closed to all forms of fishing all year round. To offset the closures, Fisheries are expanding the list of impoundments that Darren Knowles at the recently stock Mary River cod for recreational fishing to include Wyaralong Dam, Ewen constructed hatchery ponds on his Maddock Dam, Caboolture River Weir, Robina Lakes, Lake Kurwongbah, Cooroy property Enoggera Reservoir and Lake Manchester. In these impoundments the recreational take of 1 Mary River cod minimum size 60 cm all year round is permitted. As previously reported, the Mary River cod breeding program is continuing at the Cooroy property of Hatchery Manager Darren Knowles during Seqwater’s planned reconstruction of the dam wall at Lake Macdonald. At the time of writing, we are still waiting to hear of a successful spawning from the three pairs of cod in one of the new ponds. It is unusual that a successful spawning has not yet occurred, but the recent weather conditions may be responsible, with temperatures fluctuating wildly from what is normal for this time of year.

After a week of what could only be described as abysmal weather, the sun came out in force for the 15th annual Noosa Festival of Water at the Noosa Botanic Gardens. It was heartening to see large crowds come along to enjoy the great line up of entertainment and free family activities. The Festival is one of the few events held each year which utilises the Amphitheatre, and despite the lack of shade, it is a fantastic venue to showcase local musicians, with Lake Macdonald The Gubbi Gubbi dancers are one of the most providing a stunning backdrop. popular entertainers at the Festival each year The MRCCC hosts this Festival every year to provide people with opportunities to connect with experts involved in caring for our land, water, flora and fauna. This helps people to learn about actions they can take to help protect our environment. As well as the snake and reptile shows which ran throughout the day, this year’s Festival featured free weaving lessons with Rene Bahloo, a master of the art of weaving with natural fibres including cat’s claw creeper vine. The MRCCC Scientific team were there offering free dam, creek and bore water testing, and the Noosa Landcare crew were besieged by residents collecting their two free trees. Tours of the Gardens were also on offer with the Friends of the Botanic Gardens and children’s art activities and face painting were also really popular. The MRCCC hosts this free annual event with support from Noosa Council, Seqwater, Unitywater, the Burnett Mary Regional Group and Queensland Water and Landcarers, as well as receiving significant support from the staff at the Noosa Botanical Gardens and Noosa Landcare. Next year’s Festival is scheduled to take place on Sunday 28th June 2020, regardless of whether Seqwater continue with their plans to drain Lake Macdonald and start reconstruction of the dam wall. When the project goes ahead, the view from the Amphitheatre will most likely feature the original course of Six Mile Creek, which has not been seen since the dam was constructed 55 years ago.

With the large-scale bank stabilisation works that have occurred around Kenilworth in recent times, the thought is often in the forefront of our minds about what we are expecting these sites to look like in 20 years’ time and beyond, and how we can ensure the greatest likelihood of success. Of course, some of the risk associated with riverbank restoration work is unavoidable, such as the risk of flood, drought and fire but there are many different techniques which are being used all over Australia and the world which we can learn from and potentially apply in our Mary River catchment. In early September, several MRCCC staff were invited to participate in a tour of the Orara, Urumbilum and Kalang River catchments in northern NSW with representatives from several other organisations including Reef Catchments, Terrain NRM and the University of New England. Damon Telfer, formerly of the Department of Natural Resources in Gympie, organised the tour. Tony Broderick from Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority led the site tour on the first day, when we saw six sites where rehabilitation works were undertaken in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These works typically A restoration site in the – involved the installation of infrastructure such as pin groynes (pile fields), rock top 1999 and below 2019 with armouring and strategic placement of large tree logs with the root ball intact. deteriorating pin groins just visible and It was very interesting to see how the sites had been carefully selected and the site mostly stable planned to anticipate the response of the river and its recovery trajectory. On the second day we spent the morning in the estuarine zone of the Kalang River where a 2 km stretch of river bank had been treated by installing rock armouring structures in 2015-16. This site visit was led by John Schmidt from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment. It proved to be a very interesting site as macroinvertebrate and fish monitoring had been performed pre- and post-works. The results showed an increase in the abundance and diversity of species detected during monitoring. Overall this was a valuable trip for MRCCC staff which prompted us to consider our approach to river restoration works and allowed for networking with staff from similar organisations to MRCCC.

Almost 700 students from Fraser Coast schools converged on Tinana State School on Wednesday, 4 September for their 7th Annual Kids Teaching Kids Week. Students from Maryborough State High School, Aldridge State High School, Fraser Coast Anglican College, Xavier Catholic College, St Helens State School, Albert State School, Parke State School, Tiaro State School, Bauple State School and Tinana State School performed comedy, songs, quizzes, rap, plays and experiments around the environmental issues of concern to them throughout the day. MRCCC ran their regular waterbug investigation activity which was met with squeals of excitement (and sometimes disgust!) at all the life living in our fresh waterways.

By far one of the most interesting speakers to present to an MRCCC General Meeting is freshwater crayfish enthusiast Ollie Scully. Landscape Gardener by day, freshwater crayfish volunteer surveyer by night, Ollie spends his spare time scouring the freezing waters of the Conondales and upper Mary, looking for these elusive crustaceans of the rainforest. The Conondale Spiny Crayfish (Euastacus hystricosus) is an endangered species of freshwater crayfish found only in pristine mountain streams. The species faces numerous threats to its existence, including loss of habitat, poor water quality and human interference. With a carapace up to 15 cm, the crayfish exhibits a defensive behaviour of raising their claws to appear even larger than they really are, then slamming them together creating a loud clap in order to scare off predators. The MRCCC wishes Ollie all the best with his ongoing research and surveys. Above: Ollie Scully with Bronwyn McAdam, Ranger in Charge, QPWS

Oct 2018 Gympie Region Gympie region Presentation of 2016-2018 Water quality results to Waterwatch report Waterwatch volunteers Waterwatch volunteers card workshop November Mary River Festival Kandanga Waterbugs display, Spring in the Mary Photo 2018 Competition display, Find a Frog in February presentation and frog survey November Noosa Heritage talk Noosa Historical Six Mile Creek, Find a Frog in February and Cane Toad 2018 Society, Pomona Challenge presentations Museum November Noosa Biosphere Day Noosa Biosphere Display and Find a Frog in February and Cane Toad 2018 Kin Kin Association Challenge presentations Dec 2018 Sunset, seedlings and Koala corridor tree-planting and workshop, Wolvi sedgefrogs Feb 2019 Waterwatch Cooroy Rotary Club Waterwatch presentation by Jess Dean and Garth presentation Jacobson Feb 2019 MRCCC presentation Noosa Integrated Presentation by Jess Dean, Brad Wedlock and Ian Catchment Association, Mackay on MRCCC activities Tewantin Mar 2019 Landcare in the Gympie Kandanga Creek Pastures, riparian zones, grazing land management district workshop series fieldwalk at Kandanga Creek Apr 2019 Gums at Goomboorian Koala corridor tree-planting and workshop - Goomboorian May 2019 Grazing BMP workshop Qld Dept of Agriculture Grazing land management workshop, and forage & Fisheries budgeting fieldwalk, Kybong May 2019 Cooloola Coastcare Cooloola Coastcare Presented Waterwatch report and results for Cooloola Science roundtable Coastcare June 2019 Showcasing gully Noosa District High Gully erosion, pastures, riparian zones, forage erosion control project School, Mimburi budgeting, grazing land management fieldwalk at Mimburi, Blackfellows Creek June 2019 Reef Trust Forum, Australian Govt Reef Inspected Reef Trust projects with Reef Catchments, Mackay Trust Team Mackay June 2019 Noosa Festival of Noosa Botanic Gardens and Lake Macdonald Water Amphitheatre June & July Showcasing Reef Trust Gympie District Beef Pastures, riparian zones, grazing land management 2019 grazing lands projects Liaison Group fieldwalk at Kandanga Creek July 2019 Catchment Maryborough Library Water quality in the Mary River catchment presentation July 2019 Tiaro farming & Tiaro & District Display on Waterwatch and Gully Erosion project lifestyle field-day Landcare Group Sept 2019 River restoration tour Hosted by Damien Telfer around Coffs Harbour Sept 2019 Frog monitoring Noosa Shire Council Presentation at Frog Monitoring Transect, Cooroora Bushcarer’s Day out Park October Catchment Crawl Water testing at 33 sites along the Mary River and 2019 tributaries All year Kenilworth Info Centre Sunshine Coast Council Servicing MRCCC project participants in the upper Mary River catchment through regular presence in the town of Kenilworth.

Dec 2018 Frog module James Nash High 4-week class module on frogs for years 1 to 7 available School to all teachers through EdStudio Dec 2018 Find a Frog in February Goomboorian Workshop and survey at Tagigan Road Koala corridor event Dec 2018 Find a Frog in February University of the Workshop and survey for Sunshine Coast Council’s Sunshine Coast kids' program at Tanawah. Discussions to progress the training of a detection dog for conservation that can sniff out Giant barred frogs Dec 2018 Water bugs Cooloola Christian Aquatic macroinvertebrate assessment with year 7 College students Jan 2019 Find a Frog in February Noosa Landcare Frog workshop and survey Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Noosa Parks Ass Presentation Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Conondale Frog workshop and survey Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Teebar Hall Workshop and survey Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Fraser Coast Wildlife Dundowran Workshop and survey Preservation Society Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Pomona State School Presentation Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February State School Presentation Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Noosa Pengari Steiner Presentation School Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Mimburi, Noosa State Presentation and survey High School, Belli Creek Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Maleny River School Presentation and survey Feb 2019 Find a Frog in February Fraser Coast Wildlife Dundowran Workshop and survey Preservation Society April 2019 Environmental Education Education Queensland meeting representatives May 2019 Mimburi Noosa High School Presentation to Year 7 July 2019 Trainee and Mentoring Qld Farmers Federation External training for the Agricultural Extension Trainee program and study and Melbourne Uni and MRCCC staff and an official mentoring component. modules for staff Aug 2019 Steamzone, Gympie Gympie STEM hub Aquatic macroinvertebrate hands-on presentation Aug 2019 Steamzone, Tinana State School Aquatic macroinvertebrate hands-on presentation Maryborough Sept 2019 Frog monitoring and FFF Gympie Landcare Presentation and stall at Open Day

Feb 2019 Environment Forum Noosa Council MRCCC representation and participation March Threatened Species Fraser Coast Regional Expert panel meeting in Maryborough 2019 Action Planning Council During Lake Macdonald spillway Seqwater Community reference group representation 2018/2019 upgrade

July 2019 Conference paper Eighth International “Understanding the demographics of current gully presented Gully Erosion Control erosion project participants to enable a targeted Symposium, Townsville approach to Gully Remediation into the future”. Sept 2019 Presentation Paddock to Reef “Reef Trust projects in the Mary River catchment” Science Forum, Bundaberg

Project collaboration Description Cane Toad Challenge University of MRCCC is an Affiliate Member of the CtC program developed by UQ. (CtC) Queensland Molecular This program enables the MRCCC to disseminate the tadpole baits Biology Unit. and traps to community members for tadpole control. Community groups Sunshine Coast Council Belli/Cedar Catchment Care Community is supported by the MRCCC support Environmental Services and the Sunshine Coast Council to undertake restoration works on Council reserves in the Belli Park area. Mary River Turtle nest Marilyn Connell Community and landholder links provided by the MRCCC to assist protection with the turtle nest protection program and its expansion upstream in to the Kenilworth reaches. Frog Data management FrogID, WildNet re data Citizen Science collaboration project between MRCCC Find a Frog in harvest February and Australian Museum FrogID program with Queensland Government WildNet database team involved to data harvest from Australian Museum database. Mary River cod Qld Government Community-science partnership to map Mary River threatened distribution study Threatened Species freshwater species distributions. Grants Program The MRCCC’s role in the project will be to lead stakeholder submitted in engagement, develop communication materials, coordinate collaboration with the volunteers and be involved with field sampling. Australian Rivers Institute

July 2018 Gympie Regional Council Comments in relation to the proposed extractive industry near Bell's Bridge Dec 2019 Boral Property Group Cats claw infestation on the Mary River at Moy Pocket and establishment of koala food trees on Kenilworth Bluff Jan 2019 Qld Environment Minister, Leanne Enoch Gazetting the Colton Mine site as a conservation reserve Feb 2019 Gympie Regional Council Comments in relation to development application to proposed increased groundwater extraction at Traveston Feb 2019 Fraser Coast Regional Council Comments in relation to draft Fraser Coast Biosecurity Plan 2018 - 2022 Mar 2019 Sunshine Coast Council Booloumba Creek water quality issues Mar 2019 Qld Govt, Innovation, Tourism Development Submission in relation to ITDEC inquiry for the & Environment Committee (ITDEC) Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and other legislation amendments Bill 2019 May 2019 Noosa Council Comments in relation to the new Noosa Plan June 2019 Gympie Regional Council Comments in relation to development application for Service Station proposal at Kybong July 2019 Federal Minister for the Environment, Sussan Requesting guidance to assist with finalising the Mary River Ley Threatened Aquatic Species Recovery Plan July 2019 Qld Dept of Environment & Science, Director, Requesting guidance to assist with finalising the Mary River Lesley Gidding-Reeve Threatened Aquatic Species Recovery Plan July 2019 Qld Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Submission in relation to the proposed changes to freshwater fishing regulations in the Mary River Catchment to protect Mary River cod during the spawning season Aug 2019 Gympie Regional Council Comments in relation to the proposed planning scheme

Cooloola Coastcare conducts programs that involve research, citizen science, action on the ground, education, advocacy, science communication and community engagement. They offer contract research support services to scientists conducting research on the Cooloola Coast. Their programs include biodiversity, catchment management, coastal morphology and climate change and are Above: Erosion at new viewing deck, Rainbow Beach October 2019 underpinned by the valuing of Below: Coastcare President, Randy Orwin shows the scale of erosion at Rainbow Beach Indigenous language, culture and science and sustainability.

The Cooloola Coast has been impacted severely by Cyclone Oma which devastated the coastline in February 2019. The loss of sand from the beach and dunes and the changed shape of the beach profile means for the following months’ tides continued to erode the foreshore taking sand, dune vegetation and precious pandanus and casuarina trees and eroding the coffee rock ledges that underpin the foreshore ledges. Erosion is also already evident in front of the newly built viewing deck installed by Gympie Regional Council in June.

A highly successful event was hosted by Cooloola Coastcare and the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation in Rainbow Beach over 3 damp but engaging days in May. The 13 team leaders included Eva Ford (MRCCC Freshwater fish and macroinvertebrates). The 38 new spider species discovered caused great excitement as did the discovery of a larval specimen dissected from some Kauri seed found in rainforest leaf litter turned out to be Agathiphaga queenslandensis aka the Kauri moth. This primitive moth of ancient lineage has not been spotted for over four decades most likely because the area had been logged in the 1980s. Eva Ford from MRCCC led a group surveying freshwater fish and macroinvertebrates. Some of the macros were bought back to the base camp for additional study and identification under the microscope. By the numbers: 3 Days, 48 Hours of Science 14 Expert Leaders 72 Adult participants, 16 Teen participants, 7 Indigenous participants 5 Workshops & 5 Presentations (Sponsored by Gympie Regional STEM Hub Science in the Hall Program) 4 Nocturnal field trips & 2 early morning bird walks 256 Species recorded with 12 sightings of 4 endangered species Deb Seal from the MRCCC can be seen pictured here with a group seeking the Cooloola Monster with Dr Geoff Monteith (former director of the Queensland Museum).

Following on from the findings of the Cooloola Underwater Biodiversity Assessment project in 2017, 29 dives were conducted in 2019 in the creeks surrounding Tin Can Inlet and in the vicinity of the moorings to determine the source of sediment and the cause of the loss of and biodiversity in Tin Can Inlet. This research, funded by the Gympie Regional Council Environment Levy 2018-19, was shared at a stakeholder roundtable which recommended actions to rehabilitate this precious habitat within the Marine Park. Cooloola Coastcare is now beginning a collective impact process with this group of stakeholders to rehabilitate Tin Can Inlet with funding from the Gympie Regional Council Environment Levy 2019-20.

A team of Cooloola Coastcare volunteers carry out water quality monitoring every 2 months at 19 sites across the catchment. Jess Dean from MRCCC produced a report of data for the past 2 years which was shared as part of a stakeholder roundtable representing 18 organisations across the Cooloola Coast in May. This report will be used as part of the background material and baseline data for the Tin Can Inlet Rehabilitation Stage 1 funded for 2019 – 20 by the Gympie Regional Council Environment Levy.

The Cooloola Coast is recognised as a natural environment of international significance. It is listed on the World Heritage Tentative list; is a Ramsar Wetland of International Significance; is part of the UNESCO Great Sandy Biosphere. The waters are a Marine Park and the land is predominantly National Park. It is home to the endangered humpback dolphins, , migratory seabirds, and threatened marine turtles. It is a popular tourist location with 3 small communities: Tin Can Bay, Cooloola Cove and Rainbow Beach (Total population around 5000). Caring for an important coastal environment, popular with tourists from SE Queensland and international visitors, falls to a merry band of enthusiastic local volunteers and “voluntourists” who participate in Citizen Science projects to magnify the impact of local efforts. Cooloola Coastcare is developing a Voluntourism and Scientific Research-Based Tourism Strategy for the Cooloola Region for 2020-2030 covering:  Sustainable development of environmental science-based tourism;  Strategies to increase domestic and international visitors through voluntourism and science tourism;  An outline of the requirements for the development of services, experiences and infrastructure; and  Includes three case studies. This will address the challenge of finding enough conservation volunteers in a small community with a large responsibility for protecting such a significant area. It is supported by funding from the Australian Government through the Building Better Regions Fund - Community Investments Stream Round Three.

Voluntourists at the Cooloola BioBlitz. Image credit: Linda Tabe.

The Gympie Regional STEM Hub, auspiced by the MRCCC, has conducted teacher professional development, Science in the Hall community education events and the STEAMzone Science Festival in 2019. Several “STEM in the Hall” events were conducted by Cooloola Coastcare in conjunction with the Cooloola BioBlitz and their AGM with speakers presenting on topics such as Water Sensitive Urban Design, Insect Interactions, Spiders Discoveries of the 2018 Cooloola BioBlitz, the Discovery of the Cooloola Monster, and tributes to two great conservationists in the region Dr John Sinclair and Maree Prior. The STEAMzone Science Festival was held on 14 August with capacity for 480 year 4, 5 and 6 school students and home-schooled children. Fun hands-on activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, Sci-Arts and Maths (STEAM) were provided by Cooloola Coastcare, the MRCCC, Gympie and District Landcare, Gympie Regional Libraries, teachers from Gympie Central and Jones Hill primary schools, the Girl STEM Ambassadors from Noosa Districts High School, Victory College, the Education Department’s STEM Champion, Kaye North, Artist Erica Neate, Steve Burgess from Wurraglen Farm, Flying Scientist Dr Kaylene Butler (Palaeontologist), and a rep from Ten Little Pieces (marine debris prevention). The students had an educational and fun-filled day learning about a diverse range of topics by programming robots, flying drones, identifying macroinvertebrates in both soil and water, making stop motion videos, exploring team work challenges, creating a Dark Sky Stencil Art Mural, creating strong pop-stick bridges, create and advocate solutions to micro- plastics, building bee hotels, investigating the marine turtle life cycle and exploring chemical reactions. The day aims to inspire children to pursue STEM subjects in high school and STEM careers. Inspiring Australia through the Gympie Regional STEM Hub sponsored Dr Lindy Orwin and Jess Dean to attend the Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres Conference 2019 (ASPAC 2019), in Brisbane from 4-6 September 2019. Both participants thoroughly enjoyed the many sessions and networking opportunities, learned a lot about science communication and built useful long-term partnerships with other delegates.

Valley Bees continue to operate bimonthly workshops at Gympie Landcare and Honey Bee Gardens at Kandanga. The workshops continue to be supported by current members who continue to expand and spread their knowledge among the new volunteers at each workshop. The Landcare workshops have expanded to a regular sign-on of upwards to 40 attendees. Enthusiasm for bee keeping as a family activity has also increased. Several families are regular attendees at both workshops. Members and volunteers come from Maryborough, Kilkivan, Cooroy, Bribie Island and Redland Bay. The bees at Gympie Landcare were causing some issues with the workers accessing their new shed on site. So the hives were moved Checking hives away for 3 weeks and returned to Landcare. The apiary is now located further towards the back of the site, out of the way of the majority of workers. The past 12 months has been a good season for the club with regard to the bees. A good supply of honey has continued and returned to members at each workshop. The hives have had to face some management challenges over the past 12 months with small hive beetles, wax moth, chalkbrood and American foulbrood with the club losing 4 hives in total. Following Biosecurity guidelines, 3 hives where destroyed and burnt as the control method for American foulbrood. These circumstances have offered great hands on learning experiences for volunteers and members. Members from Valley Bees supported events over the past 12 months at Currumbin Bee Open Day, Rotary Quilt and Craft Show, Imbil Easter Street Market, Gympie Garden Club, Gympie Show, Noosa Permaculture Group, Royal Brisbane Show and Landcare Festival.

Honey samples were distributed to the public while native bee honey taste tests were the highlight of the Gympie Show. Valley Bees are proud of their members and encourage members to support local agricultural shows. Members exhibited at Gympie, Maryborough, Brisbane Royal and Imbil. Brian MacKenzie was rewarded with Gympie Champion, Wide Bay Champion and Champion Honey at the QBA Field Day at Bribie Island. Native and Solitary Bees Not all bees require the time in resources and management of European bees. Native social, stingless and solitary bees have different needs and require less interference. Workshops covered making bee hotels and homes for solitary bees, splitting hives and education of social native bees, gardening for bees and removing natives from a log. This education at Honey Bee Gardens has been going for nearly a year demonstrating the slower pace of native bees. Members have been incredibly generous in opening their homes for native workshops and providing time and resources to support these activities 2018 Bee Open Day: From the feedback from visitors and beekeeping supply vendors, the 2018 Bee Open Day held at Imbil was successful. As a gold coin entry, an estimated number of attendees would be over 500. A coach full of enthusiasts from Glasshouse attended and many enjoyed the lecture series on different aspects of beekeeping. The Top : Honey Bee Garden workshop. Making president of Northside Beekeeper Association complimented the frames and wiring frames on a jig club on the use of the PhotoHive display. Below: Solitary bee hotels waiting for fill A total of 36 members signed in for the day’s duty with approximately 300 volunteer hours given on the day. As usual, it was a long and enjoyable day and a major fundraiser for the club. Speakers on the day were well received and many questions were fielded. A Native bee induction was demonstrated, with all workshops well attended. Unfortunately the native hive induction tube was not well connected and a few natives enjoyed a roomier ride home in the car. The club made a donation to the Imbil School from part of the proceeds of the open day of $900. The Open day for 2019 was cancelled but plans for the 2020 Open Day are underway.

As a community engagement project, the club was approached in 2018 regarding a native hive requiring removal. On a larger scale, this native hive in a tree trunk outside the Kandanga Information Centre was becoming a nuisance to passersby. The hive had been located as a feature for Kandanga for a number of years after being moved from Lake Borumba. The club was notified and on inspection, the trunk was assessed as stable to remove. As seen, not the scale of a usual hive relocation, or an easy lift but all went smoothly and the trunk is now located near the driveway entry to Honey Bee Gardens. Hopefully, it will spend many more years on this site. A second relocation centred on a native hive located in a blue gum on the Maroochy River at Yandina that was deemed unsafe on the residential block. With Peter, transporting and stripping the outer bark, this native hive found a new home in the garden at MRCCC in Gympie. Thank you to Sara and Howie for organising the truck and Peter Velenski for the work on preparing the blue gum. From The Chairperson – Erin Mason The success of Valley Bees as a club is a reflection on the contribution of the members. The activities reported over the past 12 months could not be undertaken without the enthusiasm and support of our members. On behalf of Valley Bees Community, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the MRCCC for their support during the past year. I hope the work our group undertakes in the community, promoting education and awareness of all bees in the local environment, aligns with the MRCCC aim of ensuring sustainability and productivity of insects in the Mary River Catchment. Our aim is to offer support to individuals who want bees, whether it be honeybees, social stingless or solitary bees, regardless of their reason. Your continued support allows our workshops and information sessions to promote a positive and productive avenue to ensure bees remain sustainable, allowing for the continued diversity in native flora and introduced food plants.

Five years have passed since Koala Action Gympie Region (KAGR) came into being following a gathering of Land for Wildlife members back in December 2014. Since that time the group has been maintained by a small number of dedicated members, with the help of many supporters who assist in ways big and small. The Gympie region is fortunate to still have a considerable population of koalas. KAGR's aim is to raise awareness of their presence, needs and threats, and what we can do as a community to preserve them into the future.

KAGR’s profile has continued to expand through regular interaction with the public and through encouraging community participation in the reporting of koala sightings (into Koala Tracker and to KAGR/MRCCC for recording into the Qld Govt. Wildnet). This growing database of our region’s koala populations (and points of impact on them) is proving invaluable, from providing data to stakeholders that will enhance koala protection measures, through to helping our Beautiful healthy koala at Stumm Rd, Gympie group determine locations for information days or tree plantings. Most encouragingly, we have found, as a result, that local awareness of koalas' presence is increasing and the community's wish to become involved is growing!

With the assistance of our Council grant, KAGR was able to again promote a free tree project, with the aim of planting 2019 koala food trees in 2019. Many interested landholders received a visit from a group member for some helpful advice, and redeemed the trees at Landcare with our tree voucher. In total, trees were planted on 34 different properties across the Gympie region from as far west as Kilkivan, east to Kia Ora and south to Kybong as well as many in the Mary Valley area from Amamoor to Imbil. One was a public planting in Black Snake Rd Kilkivan, and on National Schools’ Tree Day 26th July, we were at Kia Ora School for a fun and educational morning planting koala food trees with the students.

This year, KAGR conducted information mornings in Kandanga and Kilkivan. Community members had the opportunity to hear from and interact with expert speakers, and it was a wonderful opportunity for KAGR to learn more about how koalas were faring in that part of the district, and to make more community connections. Thanks to our Council grant and their help with installation, beautiful koala interpretive signs are now up in some of our region’s koala hotspots (Bill Roddau Park, Kia Ora, Webb Park Widgee and most recently the park next to Wolvi Hall). Interpretive sign at Webb Park, Widgee

Great opportunities to have ‘koala conversations’ continue with our presence at many local events: late last year, the wonderful Mary River Festival and Bee Open Day, and the Noosa Biosphere Celebration at Kin Kin; and this year the Gympie Garden Expo, the Landcare Festival and at their “Blockies” Course. As well, we have been invited to speak to various organisations, such as the Gympie VIEW Club, and recently as guest speaker at the Gympie Community Place AGM. KAGR's Facebook page is regularly updated with local koala stories and educational posts. This social media platform is proving to be valuable for questions and koala contributions from the community. Press releases and articles are also regularly written for local newspapers, bulletins and newsletters to continually keep the koalas' plight in the public eye.

We continue to work closely with Gympie Regional Council as they progress actions in the Koala Conservation Management Plan 2018 eg providing input on various projects as they arise, such as the “Gympie Regional Fauna Movement and Road Ecology Study”. We also made a submission to the Council’s Draft Tourism Strategy - the presence of this iconic species in our region is worth acknowledging, and has much to offer tourism, and conservation in return. KAGR enjoys a positive working relationship with HQPlantations and provided input to the current review of their Forest Stewardship Plan. We regularly liaise with Transport and Main Roads on the protection of koalas on our region’s roads, including the forthcoming Section D of the Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra project.

KAGR wishes to thank Gympie Regional Council for their support through the Community Environment Levy grants. Most importantly a big thank-you to MRCCC for its continued support, their assistance with managing our finances, and the use of facilities. We look forward to continuing to work with the community and stakeholders towards conservation of our precious icons for future generations. In doing so, we continue and honour the work of the late Don Sinclair, who did so much for koala conservation in Gympie in recent decades. Thank-you, Don. Marilyn Harrison and Michelle Daly, Koala Action Gympie Region.

Thank you to Murray Views Australia, HQPlantations, Bos Rural, Noosa Landcare and the Burnett Mary Regional Group for sponsoring the 2018 Spring in the Mary Photo Competition.

Top - Overall Winner: Darter in Flight, Annamiek Wilson. Centre – Wildlife Category Winner: Pacific Baza, Nathan Bignell Below: - Rural Category Equal Winner, Mary Valley Sunset, Michelle Leech