I recently received an email from a friend who I studied Lands Parks and Wildlife with back in 2004. For one of our assignments we wrote a park management plan for an area that we were interested in. It was only meant to be a theoretical assignment but we got all enthusiastic about it and it ended up taking over most of our other studies, time and money. It was a great experience and by the time we'd finished we had a document that brought together a lot of information on our site. In doing so we had also approached various government departments and stakeholders and raised awareness of a fairly unique hydrological system in the middle of an expanding semi-rural development. We had identified various threats the area faced and were keen to assure some protection for the lagoon and its associated waterways. Unfortunately I was unable to remain focussed on the issue and to cut a long story short I had lost track of what was happening out there. I had become preocupied with getting work and taking care of my own immediate needs and those of my family My friend Grant who had introduced me to the lagoon and had spent much more time out there never lost sight of what was happening. He has a passion for this place and has devoted a lot of effort into learning more about it and working towards some kind of solution for managing the area in order to protect the lagoon from various threats.
The lagoon doesn't support great numbers of birds probably because it is rather deep compared to many other wetlands in the area and so doesn't provide good grazing, but also because it has quite a low nutrient count. However there is some rather interesting plant life in and around the lagoon, particularly species of Lilies, and various carnivorous plants that thrive in low nutrient soil (sand).
Fortunately there are now a lot of other people who are interested in protecting the Lagoon and they have started a Land Care Group! What excellent news! So sometime in August they will be incorporated and able to apply for government grants to assist with looking after the area.
I'd like to keep a regular post on their activities and wish the Girraween Lagoon Land Care Group all the best.
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