2016-12-12 General Committee - Attachment 1 to Item 6 - Biodiversity Assessment Report

                                                Noosa Biodiversity Plan – Biodiversity Assessment Report




2      Noosa Shire’s Natural Environment
2.1    Loc at i o n
The Noosa Shire is located within the mid coastline of the South East Queensland (SEQ) Region with the
Gympie Regional Council (GRC) LGA occurring to the north and west of the shire and the SCRC LGA
occurring to the south (Figure 1). The shire encompasses approximately 86,000 hectares of land
bordered to the north by the Great Sandy National Park, to the west by the Mary River Valley and to the
south by the Maroochy River catchment. This provides connectivity between the highly significant coastal
sand masses of the Cooloola/Fraser Island complex and the subtropical coastal forest uplands of the
flanking Blackall and Conondale ranges.

Noosa is also part of the biogeographic region known the "Macleay – McPherson Overlap Zone", which
is an area of exceptionally high biodiversity, where the northern (Torresian) and southern (Bassian)
Australian fauna and flora meet and overlap. Consequently, the region has a rich diversity of plants, birds,
bats, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Noosa Shire provides a stronghold for biodiversity within the SEQ
and Northern New South Wales (NSW) region (Lewis et al. 2007) and it has the only substantial area of
coastal mainland remnant vegetation between Byron Bay (300 km south in northern NSW) and
Bundaberg (250 km to the north).

The Noosa Shire occurs just south of the Great Sandy Strait, an internationally recognised Ramsar Site
and important wetland area. The major river system that flows from this area through the Shire is the
Noosa River, which originates in the coastal plains and low dunes to the north. This unusual low-lying
headwater formation has created a low flow lagoon system that includes a complex of lakes, namely Lake
Cootharaba, Lake Cooroibah, Lake Doonella and Lake Weyba. The atypical combination of a freshwater
delta and estuarine lake system represents a rare sub-tropical example of this formation (Department of
Natural Resources (DNR), 2000).

The major settlement areas within the shire are predominately located in the large contiguous urban
coastal area south of the Noosa River as well as across a number of rural hinterland towns and villages.
These areas are nestled within a mosaic of vegetation corridors and remnant and regrowth native
vegetation.

Noosa’s permanent population in 2011 was estimated at just over 48,000; however over 1.5 million people
visit the Noosa region each year, with the natural areas of Noosa Shire being the major attraction. The
region’s National Parks, beaches and the natural appeal/atmosphere are among the top five drivers of
visitor satisfaction in Noosa.


2.2    Hi st o r y
The Gubbi Gubbi (or Kabi Kabi) people have been traditional custodians of the land that makes up Noosa
Shire for over tens of thousands of years. The abundance of resources within the Noosa Shire mean local
indigenous groups had high population densities, and were generally sedentary, with huts recorded
around the lakes by early settlers (Flinders 1799, Thomas Pamphlett 1824). Fish, dugong and turtles from
the ocean; shellfish and crustaceans within the inter-tidal zone and the expansive stretches of wetlands,
swamps and lakes; and birds, marsupials and plants that were abundant in the area provided a variety of
food sources (Lewis et al. 2007).

The process of development within Noosa Shire began in the 1800s and followed the typical pattern within
Queensland, where early explorers travelled into unsettled areas to assess the natural resource potential



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