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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/australia-wetland-restoration-great-barrier-reef/>
"“Did you see the pelicans on your way in?” asks Jacob Cassady, pointing to the
dirt road that winds along Palm Creek, the lush waterway which feeds into the
restored Mungalla wetlands that have been his life’s work. “They came three
months ago. Before that, there was hardly any water flowing through that part
of the creek. It was just back-to-back invasive species. There were no fish, no
birds, nothing. It was a dead system.”
With his long grey beard and signature navy button-down shirt, topped with a
battered Akubra hat, Cassady cuts a recognizable figure in the community of
Ingham, a small farming town in north Queensland, Australia.
Not only is he the face of Mungalla, a cattle station turned Indigenous nature
retreat located about seven miles from town, but he’s a senior member of the
Nywaigi people, whose ancestral lands run through the 880-hectare property
(nearly 3.5 square miles). And he plays a key role in helping his community
reconnect with their land and their culture.
Cassady has been a catalyst for change for Mungalla for decades. He facilitated
the reacquisition of Mungalla by the Nywaigi in 1999, and since then, he has
spearheaded the revitalization of its nearly-dead wetlands and weed-infested
creek, an effort that has put the property on the tourist trail while also
creating training and work opportunities for Indigenous youth. Several
currently work on the property, while several hundred have done short-term
live-in stays over the years to learn land management skills.
Progress has been slow but sure. “We want to be able to clean out all these
waterways so all the birds will come back,” Cassady says. “We used to have
black swans down there. It was just an amazing place for bird life, but it was
destroyed by bad farming practices.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
