The Sunshine Coast Council has bought a 108-hectare parcel of land near Maleny that will be used as a biodiversity corridor.
Council spent $ 2 million to acquire the former native timber harvesting site that has a diverse array of plants and animals including threatened and iconic species.
With funds provided by ratepayers through the Environment Levy, Council has bought two parcels of land on McCarthy Shute Rd, Wootha, about 5km south of Maleny.
The site is home to at least eight threatened plant species and habitat for seven threatened animal species, from the iconic koala and glossy black cockatoo to the lesser-known long-nosed potoroo and Maleny spiny crayfish, a critically endangered species only found in our region.
It will expand the neighbouring Annie Heir Environment Reserve, providing a protected wildlife corridor that connects with Glasshouse Mountains National Park.
This acquisition, combined with the existing conservation estate and the national park, creates a total protected habitat of 537 hectares.
Division 5 Councillor Winston Johnston said the site was formerly owned by a local mill and used for native timber harvesting.
“Some parts of the site have been disturbed by harvesting, but most areas are high-quality habitat,” Cr Johnston said.
“This purchase was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect a connection of this quality in the landscape, establishing a stronghold for biodiversity.
“This provides habitat for some of our most iconic wildlife and also locally significant and critically endangered plant species,” he said.
The site spans both deep rainforest valleys and high eucalypt ridge lines.
The valleys are home to moisture-loving vine forests, critical for threatened and locally significant plants like the Richmond birdwing butterfly vine, stilt lily, thready-barked myrtle and local macadamia.
On the ridges are open eucalypt forests, which provide a significant area of core koala habitat.
Environment and Liveability Portfolio Councillor Tim Burns said when choosing where to purchase land for conservation, Council prioritised sites within strategic biodiversity corridors.
“Biodiversity corridors are places where it’s possible to connect the natural landscape in a network across our Biosphere,” Cr Burns said.
“In connected corridors, feeding, migrating and reproducing is easier for all species: flora, fauna or fungi.”
Cr Burns said these corridors were defined and mapped in the Environment and Liveability Strategy.
