Graduate oversees huge habitat project
University of the Sunshine Coast environmental science graduate Kate Hoad is working on what could be the largest ecological project of its kind in the world.
Kate, 32, is a restoration ecologist with Arborcare Queensland and is overseeing the re-establishment of 12.2ha of native habitat that has been transported in 4m x 4m turfs from a new residential development at Bundilla to the USC campus.
The last squares of habitat are expected to arrive in December, by which time the developer Stockland will have spent millions of dollars translocating the rare and threatened vegetation from its Brightwater estate.
Stockland hired Hall Contracting which used special excavators to lift plants, roots and soil in intact squares from the estate and load them on trucks bound for USC.
Kate was sub-contracted to ensure the 30,000-odd squares were correctly pieced together to give the plants the best chance of survival on a 15ha site at USC.
Kate, who finished her degree in 2003, said she was relishing the project which involved arranging plants according to their specific hydrological and topographical requirements.
She said rare species of Boronia rivularis and Acacia attenuata were among the plants that will provide habitat for a range of animals, including threatened species of ground parrot, acid frogs and the Lewins Rail.
“It’s very exciting,” she said. “I’ve worked on a lot of projects in bush regeneration but never anything like this, slowly filling an ex-canefield with native heath.
“I am fortunate to be able to monitor the establishment of plants and create native habitat for the wildlife around the area.”
Kate will continue working at the USC site for the next three years alongside University researchers who are keen to monitor the habitat's health and record changes in the biodiversity of its flora and fauna.
USC Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill said the translocation project had established a “living laboratory” on campus for extensive environmental research.
— Terry Walsh