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The Marsh land — Springbrook Plateau

ARCS is seeking to raise funds to purchase the Marsh land at Springbrook.

Springbrook Plateau is siuated in the Gold Coast Hinterland..

The Marsh land lies towards the northern end of Springbrook Plateau. The escarpment that can be seen at the bottom of the image is the border with New South Wales. The Marsh Land can be seen wedged within Ankida.

This forest type on the Marsh Land is commonly described as ‘wet sclerophyll’. Here, the canopy trees are mainly eucalypts, turpentine and casuarina, but there are rainforest trees in the sub-canopy and the understorey is rich in rainforest species. Ecologically, the forest functions as rainforest.

Persoonia media is endemic to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage region with the rainforest form restricted to the elevated areas of the Gold Coast hinterland. The genus is one of the most basal in the Proteaceae, the classic Gondwanan family.

The Marsh land is threatened

We thought the Marsh Land was safe from development. Its current owners have protected it for many decades. Only recently we’ve become aware of just how vulnerable this land is and consequently Ankida too, the land ARCS already owns and protects. The risks are so great and so urgent we now have to embark on a major fundraising campaign to secure the future of this irreplaceable natural treasure — before it’s too late.

Why is the Marsh land so important?

Wedged in the middle of Ankida is the Marsh Land which, in the wrong hands, would threaten this precious area as well as the intrinsic values of the Marsh Land itself. Since 2005 ARCS has been involved in recovering and protecting rainforests at Springbrook, the threatened heartland of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area (See Places we protect/World Heritage.). In 2009 and 2010 ARCS was gifted ‘Ankida’ (ancient Sumerian meaning ‘Where Heaven and Earth Meet’) to ensure its protection forever (link). It is a 205-hectare property of exceptional significance — the single largest land parcel on Springbrook plateau, with scenic gorges, majestic waterfall, precipitous escarpment cliffs, and tall, hollow-bearing old trees that harbor species at the edge of extinction.

In just 4.2 hectares it has:

• 174 plant species in 134 genera and 73 families in a small surveyed plot. (hover for more)
• 46 bird species (in 40 genera in 20 families) recorded in one short survey (hover for more)
• other animals giving it great significance (hover for more)
• old-growth forests with hollow-bearing, huge trees (hover for more)
• crystal clear waters of Waterfall Creek coursing through its heart (hover for more)

Waterfall Creek flows through the Marsh land. Its crystal clear waters course through its heart. These are its ‘life blood’, with riffles, rapids and deep pools the home for platypus, turtles, rare frogs, crayfish and myriad as yet undiscovered invertebrates.

There are numerous large trees, many metres in diameter, and often near running water providing safe haven and nesting sites for 25% of all the species there including the vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoo and rare Red-browed Treecreeper.

Glossy Black-Cockatoo. These cockatoos live long, up to 70 years. They need hollows for nesting, casuarina seeds for food and running water nearby. Black cockatoos are found nowhere else in the world but Australia. Three of the five species occur in this area — the glossy, yellow-tailed and red-tailed. Photo by Ian Black.

Many of the large, old trees have hollows providing nesting and shelter sites for birds including the vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoo.

Sarcochilus falcatus (Orange Blossom Orchid) is the type species for this small genus (25 species) of epiphytic or lithophytic orchids endemic to northern and eastern Australia and New Caledonia. Many now endangered through illegal collecting.

The Spectacled Monarch, one of the 46 bird species recorded here so far, migrates to this area during the warmer seasons. Most in the family of Gondwanan monarch flycatchers are highly threatened.

Ankida and this land parcel are Land Mullet ‘Heaven’ — perfect habitat for this giant, ancient skink and its nuclear family. We’ve counted 17 in a half hour walk. They need this safe haven to live out their maximum possible lifespan of 25 years.

Zieria arborescens is the tallest Zieria known, reaching 10 m in wet forests and has the largest flower. This is the most northerly record in its entire disjunct range. Zieria is an East Gondwanan genus originated 60-80 million years ago; most species (59 of 60) are restricted to Australia (1 in New Caledonia) and most are threatened with extinction.

How will purchase of The Marsh Land by ARCS solve the threat?

The purchase of this land by ARCS will enable it to be absorbed into Ankida which will give it and the whole precinct the highest level of protection possible.

Ankida is already protected by the strictest conservation covenant possible under Local Government law and by a Nature Refuge Agreement under State legislation. These preclude any development and are registered on the Title.

ARCS would manage the Marsh Land and its old-growth forest as a permanent, untouched reference site — no buildings, no roads, no power easements — for nature to be be free and evolve unfettered.

ARCS has in place the capacity, funding and legal safeguards to restore, protect and manage this area. Its management will be guided by the science ARCS is already undertaking to better understand the ecological and evolutionary workings of these forests. A volunteer program exists to keep pace with the land’s needs for any restoration.

Why is the purchase urgent?

Already development plans exist that would involve clearing of old-growth forest that is critical habitat for the vulnerable Glossy Black-Cockatoo and many others species.

We have only until the 30 June 2014 to secure the necessary funding to buy this land so the entire area can be protected.