Welcome to the website of the Cassowary Recovery Team (CRT), a group of organisations working together to implement the recovery plan for the Southern Cassowary and ‘protect cassowaries, habitats and corridors from threats through better planning, monitoring and community involvement’ .
We hope you enjoy exploring the site and learning more about the endangered Southern Cassowary and how we’re working to protect these magnificent birds.
New guidelines will help town planners and developers to protect the habitat of the region’s iconic cassowary and mahogany glider.
Habitat corridors connecting sections of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area are very important for the long term survival of cassowaries. Ecological corridors are a vital part of every Council’s new planning scheme. Good planning makes sure that their habitat is conserved and includes ecological corridors for wildlife to move across the landscape.
You can read more in the media release and cassowary guidelines flyer.
You can download the full Cassowaries in Planning Schemes Guideline.
The Totally Wild story Three Little Endangered Animals will be going to air on Thursday 15th November 2012 at 3:30pm on Network Ten, Australia. The story features a play about the bilby, the cassowary and the dugong. The play will be travelling to most schools in Queensland. The episode will also be available on line at www.totallywild.com.au.
After two years of devotion t
o cassowary conservation, Tablelands tree planting and tramp ant eradication, Deb Pople has decided to leave the Wet Tropics Management Authority and apply her considerable skills and experience in new realms.
Deb has been a driving force behind the Cassowary Recovery Team and established the website from scratch. She will be greatly missed.
All the best Deb, and we hope to still see you around the Wet Tropics!
Yellow crazy ants Anoplolepis gracilipes, a serious threat to the biodiversity of the Wet Tropics, including cassowaries, have recently been identified inside the World Heritage Area for the first time in Little Mulgrave National Park near Edmonton. Continue reading
For many years, CRT member C4 have been collecting sightings information about cassowaries through a daily log at their Visitor Centre in Mission Beach.
When local retiree, Jeff Larson (a self-confessed “mad stats” person), joined C4 in 2009, he generously volunteered his time to enter all the data into a spreadsheet for public viewing. Continue reading
Several members of the Cassowary Recovery Team - Mission Beaches Cassowaries, Kuranda Conservation, and the Daintree Region Cassowary Group – have joined forces to apply for a Community Action Grant with assistance from Terrain NRM. If successful, the $20,000 grant will fund delivery of local community awareness and information sharing workshops and help to improve data collection and recording methods. Read more about it on Terrain NRM’s website. UPDATE (June 2012): unfortunately this application was not successful, but CRT members are continuing to look for alternative sources of funding. If you can help, please let us know!
One of the major threats facing cassowaries in North Queensland is the loss of habitat and connectivity.
The Australian Government has expressed their commitment to developing a strategy to restore and manage ecological connections in the Australian landscape, and has recently released a Draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan (PDF) for public comment. Continue reading
