Conserving Tropical Rainforest Field Trip

As part of one of my courses, Conserving Tropical Rainforests, the class is conducting a field trip to the several sites with in the Daintree Rainforest area of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area. The sites include Mossman Gorge, Cow Bay, and Mardjja Boardwalk.

The goals of this trip include giving us practical hands on experience with a rapid assessment framework known as the Pressure-State-Response system, observing psychological impacts of tourism and development, and pressure fluxes between humans and their surroundings in a tropical rain forest.

The Pressure-State-Response system operates on a set of qualitative and quantitative criteria that define a given state the given environment is in and then tries to identify what pressures are acting on the environment (positive or negative) to determine what actions or responses a land managing group should take to the situation.

The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest continuously rain-forested land in Australia, and perhaps the world, as its location has been relatively stable even by geologic time.
It is home to the Kuku Yalanji people, residents of Cow Bay, ancient plants, and unique endemic species.
All of these combine to make the area significant for scientific and cultural value.

It should be an exciting an unique experience.

Racism

In the U.S. racism is considered something we as a country are "moving past" and have been moving away from since the 1960s. Occasionally, the mass media picks up on cases of excessive force or on going discrimination in certain parts of the country. It is usually passed off as some horrible isolated incident.
It is also usually portrayed as more prominent against African Americans: I think this is a social modern myth and that it is equally harmful against the Latino, Middle Eastern, Native American, and other ethnic communities that do not visually fit couched in the 1950s image of United States Citizen.
While racism may have become more subtle in the States it is still prevalent if you look for it.

Australia's geography, history, and current economics have lead to a mixing pot of people. However despite public events or policies like National "Sorry Day" or the apology to the Lost Generations different types of racism is still apparent. And it isn't just the comments and generalizations about Indigenous Australians that are made in jokes or in seriousness. It is also in actions.
There is also, in some places, a very anti-immigration sentiment targeted at those who look ethnically Asian.
My flatmate is Canadian and has Chinese heritage. She was in Cairns walking from a bus stop to pick up a car. It was about ten in the morning on a weekday and she encountered two young men coming out of a building. They began looking at her over their shoulder and speaking louder then was necessary to complain about "all the dirty Asians" immigrating to Australia and taking all the jobs. She said something to them to the effect of to stop and they were being very rude. One of the guys then proceeded to yell at her and to call her a "whore" and sling other gender and ethnically orientated insults at her. She walked away as quickly as possible and was obviously upset when she got the car dealership. The agent waiting to give her the keys to the car ect. asked her if she was ok and what had happened. She related her story and the first thing he said was "Were they Aboriginal?" as if that would excuse the behavior. The answer was "No, they were white."

Australia has a population just over 22 million people. And according to Australia.gov.au one out of four of Australians were born outside of Australia and many more are first or second generation citizens. So it seems odd that racism is so flagrant in Northern Queensland.

But, like in the States, attitudes take longer to change then policy.

Hydrologic Oranges

In the US a standard of natural resource undergrad classes is some type of hydrologic assessment lab, class, or whatever. These assessments include measuring depth, velocity and highly specialized equipment.

A key component of this equipment includes a Californian Orange.
Why?
Because to measure velocity you need to measure how long it takes an object to travel from point A to point B down the river. Oranges are ideal for this because the are brightly colored (easy to find) and bio-degradable should you commit the atrocity of loosing your equipment. But, you can only use California oranges because for some reason they float while Florida oranges sink.

Australia is fully capable of growing its own oranges. So the question is do they sink or float?

They Float!!!

After the Flood

This is the view from the bridge on the way to the underpass that goes to campus, after the rain.

Yes there has been a good amount of Meteorological activity in Queensland during the past months. Most of the flooding has occurred in the southern portion of the state, but thanks for those of you who were concerned about my well being none the less.

The last 2 1/2 to 3 weeks have been nothing but constant rain.
This was due to a tropical low (depression) hanging out on the other side of Cape York.
Of course the result has been swollen creeks, mud, and a vitamin D deficiency. Not to mention horrible siltation and erosion from the on campus construction sites, so much for best management practices.

Last Monday (20/3/12) the rain took a decidedly nasty turn. It was pouring more then usual and was accompanied by wind, (if you are from Wyoming it would be considered a gentle breeze). The water table was seeping up through the ground in the courtyard and the creeks through and around campus almost exceeded their high-banks capacity.
Parts of the highway connecting Smithfield to Cairns was flooded and classes were cancelled or delayed.
Cairns/Smithfield did not get the worst of it. I do not believe that any of our buildings flooded, and life resumed as usual.
The Townsville campus however, had wind damage and flooded buildings. Townsville is also in a much more urbanized area resulting in less permeable surfaces for the rain to enter the ground.

These are some pictures I took Tuesday after the big storm.

 This is the first side of the underpass on the way to campus. The vegetation clinging to the fence shows how high the water got. The missing piece of fence was torn a way by a large piece of debris, like a log or tree, or another piece of fence.

 This is the other side (campus side) of the underpass.
The vegetation and mud show how high the water got. There are two pieces of fencing missing, and three dislocated or on the ground.
















 This tree, which has become stuck in the underpass , it probably what tore the fencing out on its way through.

Aussie Slang: What’s that word?!

Here is a list of Australian words that all can bamboozle the foreigner, particularly Americans. Take your best guess what these mean and put your ideas in the comment box! I will post the both the funniest answers and the American equivalent to these words latter in the semester!!!


Thongs

Scrogan

Rellies

Sunnies

Kiwi

Chips

Jelly

Icies

Swimmers

Drop-bear

Serviette

Uni

Chillagoe Part 2: Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park

The Chillagoe caves are unique in that they are almost entirely above ground level.
They have been formed over many many years by the erosion of the surrounding landscape leaving limestone out crops in place. Water then flowed into, through, and over these out crops slowly dissolving components in the limestone over many, many years.
The caves and galleries have columns, stalactites, stalagmites, "cave coral", fossils, pools, and other formations. Some formations in the cave were named by the tourists who used to use the cave as a picnic spot and are called whimsical things like "the elephant" or the "candle."
There are bats, cave spiders, some evidence of other wildlife; not to mention the trees growing through the holes in the tops of some of the open chambers.

Then there is the "Laundry Chute." This feature is the one place where you can get down in the mud a wriggle through a gap in the cave wall. You crawl in about a meter, turn around in a tiny chimney crevice, and then slide feet first through a little gap. The whole process is a lot shorter then it sounds and is heaps of fun!

Awesome people who went on this trip! Those cliffs behind us are the outside of the caves.

Chillagoe Part 1

Balancing Boulder

European Honey Bees

The Green-Outback

 Chillagoe is a tiny town that used to be a mining hub for copper, silver, gold, and other metals. As tour-guide Toe-Knee put it “It is one of those places that seems to stand still in time.”
It’s located beyond the Tablelands at the very beginning of the Outback.
This was rather difficult to believe as it was incredibly green!
    The area around Chillagoe has received so much rain this year that the grass is taller then the red kangaroos that feed on it. And it presents a beautiful contrast against the termite mounds made out of the characteristic-outback-red soil. Some of these mound were only a foot or so high, but others were the size of small boulders.
    We arrived around lunch time and ate at the local pub, where we would have the majority of that weekend’s meals and become quite at home with the locals. We stayed just down the road at this camper cabin place. Each cabin had a small kitchenette and some beds, and was only a short walk from the communal toilet. It also had the most amazing climbing tree!
    After a short break we hopped back in the van to have a look at Balancing Boulder and some rock imagery, to see the old mine, and go swimming.
    Balancing Boulder is not really balancing it merely has this appearance because of where the limestone has eroded away. The pictographs were on the other side of the limestone bluff and were not in the best condition but it was still cool to see them none the less.
    The Chillagoe mine followed the boom and bust cycle to a tea. It went up fast, with towers, trucks, and even a rail line and busted so quickly and completely that all the equipment was left where it stood. And I mean all of it, jeeps, rail pieces, everything. Including an enormous slag heap, you don’t even realize where it is until you get to the edge of it because it’s been leveled out as a parking area. Then you look down and see all the metals and minerals glinting back up at you from the ground. Its so hard to describe just how large that slag heap is and then to comprehend what that means in terms of environmental safety. They say there is no leaching from the slag, but I doubt it.
    The towers left from the processing mill are still the tallest structure around and have become one of the places in Queensland most often hit by lightning. It gets hit so often that the park had to install a lightening rod near by to preserve the towers for their historic cultural value. Its really sad to see the remnants of so much wasteful policy.

I will finish describing the trip to Chillagoe latter. The caves really deserve a post all to themselves

Mining Tower

Slag-pile from the mine. Taken while standing on another portion of the slag-pile.

UNESCO World Heritage Site 2: The Wet Tropics

School has picked up pace and I am finding it hard to meet the goal I had set for this blog so please forgive me as I back track. Also note this will probably only be one of  several posts about the Wet Tropics because they are diverse and very accessible to me.

On the last weekend of Feb I was able to participate, along with other international students, in a trip to the Atherton Tablelands, which are part of the Wet Tropics.

The Wet Tropics were classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their age, bio-diversity, and cultural importance. The Atherton Tablelands have portions of cloud and vine rain forest and are home to the endangered Cassowary.

Our day trip took us to lakes Barrine and Eacham formed by craters, a murderous curtain fig, a visit to the Kauri Pines, the Hypipamee Volcanic Crater, Babinda Boulder and what is considered to be the most picturesque waterfall of the area, Millaa Millaa falls.

To get to the Tablelands is a bout an 1.5 hour drive up into the mountains on a road with 84 turns. It was a rainy cool all day but that did nothing to detract from the beautiful forest around us or the clear water we could go swimming in.

The Lakes were pretty and the pines ancient. The Hypipamee Crater was so deep that it took ~15 seconds for a stick dropped from the observation platform to hit the water below, before sinking beneath the duck-weed. It is estimated to be 60m deep, which is ~90ft.

The Millaa Millaa falls were the initial highlight of the day being both picturesque and good place for swimming. I think the only water I have ever encountered that was colder than this was the South Fork of the Poudre in Pingree Park! But it was refreshing and there is nothing like swimming under a waterfall! (This might have been the same one the MSTC visited in 2006? If anyone knows please say so!)

This was late in the day now and we were all feeling a bit tired but happy for the awesome day with our tour guide Toe-Knee (no seriously, thats how he told us to call him), and then we had our last stop, Babinda Boulder and Devil’s Pool. The power of the water had carved pot-holes and smooth surfaces into the rough granite, leaving us a bit in awe of the natures power.
    The story, supposedly, is that long ago before colonization happened  two young people from different Aboriginal tribes fell in love and tried to run away together. They were caught at this section of the river and separated. The girl, rather then go back with her tribe, threw herself into the river and tried to swim across, but was pulled under and drowned. They say her spirit still resides in the pool. Sometimes cocky young men will think they are good enough swimmers and try to swim there, but they get pulled under and drown. They say its the girl’s angry spirit still missing her lover.


It was here we saw the Cassowary, described in an earlier post. It was beautiful and ancient. Seeing this endangered bird so close was the real highlight of the trip. But even in the excitement of it stalking our van and the anxious clicking of cameras, you couldn’t forget that it was first and foremost wild. And that it and all the wonders of the forest should stay that way.

Images of Chillagoe

Last weekend I participated in a trip that went to the edge of the "Out-Back", and due to the unseasonably wet conditions everything was strikingly green! Enjoy!

Great Barrier Reef Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from the trip to the Great Barrier Reef, taken and provided by Amanda Styers.

The Crucial Cassowary

Cassowaries are large ratites, flightless birds, that are a crucial or keystone species in the northern tropics of Australia. Both males and females have unique black feathers and compelling red and blue necks. The females, like those in the raptor world, are usually bigger and more aggressive then the males. In a twist on parenting the female will lay eggs in a clutch for the male to incubate them, he is then responsible for the care of the chicks until they are old enough to go create their own home range in the forest.
    They are one of the largest native animals in these rain forests and are critically endangered. Because of their size and unique digestive system they are the only animal that can adequately process and distribute the seeds of ~150 species of tree in the rain forest. The loss of the cassowary alone would shrink the current forest by 20-25%.
    There are many threats to the cassowary which cumulatively are causing a decrease in their numbers. These threats include loss and fragmentation of habitat, being killed by cars, dog and feral pig attacks, and sadly some of these amazing birds are being shot out right.
    Perversely, because they are an endangered species, they have become an animal tourists dearly want to see and take pictures of and so some tourists think it is ok to feed these birds when they wander through the picnic or car park area. Feeding cassowaries is dangerous for both the birds and the people feeding them. They are obligate frugivores, which means they eat only fruit, and because of their delicate respiratory track if they eat something with certain types of mold (like the ones found on bread) they can die of an infection. They are wild animals and can be easily spooked and if you are in their space they are likely to kick you with their claws (5 in long).
    It may seem like common sense not to feed the wildlife but it isn’t. 
This past weekend while on a trip to the Atherton Tablelands the following occurred.
At the Babinda Boulders car park a large cassowary came out of the rain forest to make its way across the picnic area to the other part of the forest. There was our bus of students (~15 persons) and another group of tourists. We were all enamored of this big handsome bird. Cassowaries are curious by nature and went to investigate the group of tourists who started clicking cameras wildly and one pulled out something and started trying to feed it. Our guide told them to stop, for the reasons above, but they kept feeding it. They started getting on their bus and threw one more tidbit to the cassowary. One girl had to get one more picture and the starting of a car engine spooked the bird and he/she ran at the girl and almost got her. The cassowary then proceeded to stalk our van, which resulted in great pictures for us but no more food for the cassowary who disappeared back into the forest. While it was exciting to see one of these birds in the wild it is extremely sad that people are a) willing to risk the well being of the animal they love for a photograph, and b) changing the behavior of such a beautiful bird from being self-sufficient to begging for scraps.

Source for Cassowary Facts:
Dr. Joan Bentrupperbäumer professor of Conserving Tropical Rain Forests at James Cook University
Wet Tropics Management Authority at http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_casso.html

Pictures: Ann Bishop (me)