COMPLETED PROJECT SNAPSHOT
Action: Purchase and protection of Maalan Cloud Forest in the Atherton Tablelands
Area: 83 hectares (approximately 45 hectares of remnant rainforest)
Additional actions: Revegetation of 35 hectares to complete the wildlife corridor and connect two isolated national parks within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
Location: Number 252 (Lot 535) Maalan Road, Maalan, Far North Queensland (Lot 535 NR2668)
Vegetation type: Regional Ecosystem 7.8.4 high-altitude cloud forest on basalt
Biodiversity status: Endangered
Threatened Species: Spectacled Flying-fox, Spotted-tail Quoll, Southern Cassowary, Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Herbert River Ringtail Possum, Golden Bowerbird
Outcome: The purchase of the Maalan Cloud Forest property occurred in January 2024. Once the 120,000 trees have been planted an application will be submitted to the Queensland Government to create a declared Nature Refuge. It will take 6 years to establish the trees. The land is owned and managed by our project partners, fellow non-profit organisation South Endeavour Trust. Thank you to our generous donors who helped to achieve this outcome.
The Spectacled Flying-fox, Spotted-tail Quoll, Southern Cassowary, Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Herbert River Ringtail Possum, and Golden Bowerbird need help if they are to survive climate change.
These threatened species are restricted to the cooler parts of the Atherton Tablelands and other higher parts of the Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland, which means they can all be found either on this 83-hectare Maalan Cloud Forest property or at nearby locations of similar altitude (above 800 metres). Securing this important habitat has made an important contribution in support of their long-term survival.
Lemuroid ringtail possum
Spectacled flying-fox
A very significant population of the Spectacled Flying-fox uses a camp in the rainforest adjoining the Maalan Cloud Forest property. The size of the population changes through the year, with reports of over 20,000 bats in the camp over the summer months. This represents one-third of the remaining Spectacled Flying Fox population.
Climate change is the increasing number of days with high temperatures. On the 15th of January 2019, a record-breaking heatwave in Far North Queensland pushed temperatures to 42 degrees Celsius. This one event is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying-foxes, or almost one-third of the species in Australia.
Climate change impacts mammals adapted to live in the normally stable environment of the cloud forests. As temperatures rise, habitat at higher altitudes becomes an essential refuge.
Spectacled flying-fox. Pic by David White.
Without functional connections within fragmented habitat areas, it is feared that the long-term survival of a range of species will be at substantial risk.
As the impact of climate change increases, the remaining population of Spectacled Flying-foxes in Far North Queensland will require a refuge to which they can retreat in extreme heat conditions. Through the purchase and restoration of high-altitude cloud forest on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, we are achieving this outcome.
The purchase of Maalan Cloud Forest has enabled 83 hectares to be managed as an essential refuge for endemic mammals that have nowhere else to go.
Green ringtail possum
Biodiversity and connectivity
This Maalan Cloud Forest property is key to rainforest connectivity, and has created a vital wildlife corridor. Strategically located between Wooroonooran National Park and Maalan National Park, the Maalan Cloud Forest property's value as a corridor for wildlife is immense.
On the property, there are currently 45 hectares of endangered rainforest and 35 hectares of land that were cleared many decades ago. By revegetating this land we will complete a high-priority corridor between Maalan and Wooroonooran national parks. Its protection and restoration will also help buffer the World Heritage Area.
Around 120,000 trees will be planted to restore the cleared land. This expansion of habitat will complete the wildlife corridor and expand the habitat for the existing spectacled flying-fox camp. Revegetation of the 35 hectares will begin in 2025 and be completed within 3 to 5 years.
Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo
Nature refuge planned for protection of Maalan Cloud Forest
Our project partner South Endeavour Trust is a successful registered non-profit organisation that acquires and manages land for conservation. We successfully partnered with South Endeavour Trust in 2021 for the acquisition of Oakey Scrub near Cooktown and the Cheelonga Cloud Forest in 2022.
The goal is to protect the Maalan Cloud Forest property through its gazettal as a Nature Refuge. Our project partner South Endeavour Trust intends to apply for this status now that the property has been purchased. The Queensland Government’s Nature Refuge program works with landholders who have an interest in protecting and managing the significant conservation values of their land in perpetuity. A nature refuge is established through a voluntary, binding conservation agreement between the landholder and the Department of Environment and Science on behalf of the Queensland Government.
The Maalan River flows through the property.
Thank you
Thank you to our generous donors who supported protection of this critically important rainforest ecosystem.
Maalan Cloud Forest