Brolgas in danger unless cattle can be introduced to national park

The potential loss of the bird that features on Queensland's Coat of Arms is a real fear for Mark Stoneman, co-founder of a group conserving an internationally important wetland south of Townsville.

Giru grazier and conservationist Mark Stoneman AM, a past Primary Industries Minister and Premier's representative for North Queensland, is passionate about Wongaloo, a property midway between Townsville and Ayr that was run for around a century as a cattle grazing enterprise.

He could see the land surrounded by the Bowling Green Bay National Park was in danger of being fragmented and its values as a significant brolga habitat lost and so put in place a Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation to acquire and manage the land.

The lowland section of the park is listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance, and the adjacent Wongaloo Wetlands Regional Park is home to the largest-ever brolga congregation in Australia, around 8000 birds, and is a significant breeding ground for them.

According to the late Gavin Blackman, a senior zoologist with the Environmental Protection Agency, the land has traditionally provided brolgas with an opportunity for large numbers to congregate in the post-breeding season.

That plays an important role in pair formation at a time when there's an abundant food supply via the tubers of the bulkuru sedge plant, which is disappearing at Wongaloo under an invasion of para grass, olive hymenachne and aleman grass.

Mr Stoneman saw a practical example of this recently when an area of the national park was burnt out through the work of an arsonist.

"A week later I went back, and there were about 200 birds there because the weeds had been burnt - they were getting food," he said.

Mr Stoneman said Townsville's town common used to be recognised as a significant brolga habitat, that people came from all over the world to see.

"Now if you see one out there, you'd be flat out," he said.

He believes cattle grazing is the "only practical alternative" for controlling the grasses on the 1700ha tropical wetland, alongside chemicals and fire.

"We want to have grazing re-established there," he said, but so far this has not been possible.

"We've offered to manage it, erect some fences - we need some capital support to erect the fences and put some water, because we haven't got enough - we have no income except for the agistment of the cattle we've got, 300 or just a bit over," he said.

Environment Minister Leanne Linard said she had met with Mr Stoneman around two weeks ago as part of the Townsville Community Cabinet meeting to discuss the management of the Wongaloo Wetlands.

"I acknowledge his passion and commitment to protecting this environmentally significant area," she said.

"Mr Stoneman raised a number of issues. As I committed to doing during our meeting, I will respond to the issues relevant to my portfolio in due course.

"I will also engage with other relevant ministers with responsibility for issues raised by Mr Stoneman which are outside my portfolio."

Those issues include saltwater encroachment, which Mr Stoneman says can be addressed by bolstering naturally occurring bunds, and vehicle access across the Great Northern Rail line, which bisects the property.