The Maalan Cloud forest is specifically suited to a range of endangered species and if the forest is not saved there is the risk they may become extinct. The Gondwana Rainforest Trust (formerly Rainforest 4) has launched an urgent appeal to buy an 83-hectare property in the Atherton Tablelands, which could prove to be a key conservation outcome for a possum driven to near-extinction by climate change.
The white lemuroid ringtail possum was believed to be the world’s first mammal casualty of climate change due to the 2005 Mount Lewis heatwave which wiped out the majority of its population. However, it was recently rediscovered and its population is slowly rebuilding. The lemuroid ringtail possum requires a very specific climate to live in because it cannot survive at temperatures above 30°C for more than four or five hours.
The white lemuroid ringtail possums have gradually increased in population, but any increase in temperature will affect their ability to thermoregulate so Gondwana Rainforest Trust are looking to save a part of the Maalan Cloud Forest to secure this species’ future.
Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s chief science officer, John Kanowski has seen two white lemuroid ringtail possums. Of the two white lemuroid ringtail possums he has seen in the Atherton Tablelands, one was at Maalan.
‘It’s a bit like seeing a white humpback whale – once you’ve seen one, you never forget it,’ said John Kanowski (Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s chief science officer),’ he said.
‘The Maalan is a very high quality habitat for Wet Tropics endemics. It’s an area that’s on good soil, it’s wet, and the critters love it.’
This cool climate rainforest is also home to the spectacled flying fox, Lumholtz tree kangaroo, green ringtail possum, herbert river ringtail possum, and the golden bowerbird which will also be at risk of becoming extinct without conservation of this habitat.
The Gondwana Rainforest Trust are looking to raise $1.2 million to buy and revegetate the 35 hectares of cleared land on the property through the strategic planting of 125,000 native trees. Around 45 hectares of the property is already forested and provides refuge for other endemic and threatened species.
A rare primitive vine called Austrobaileya scandens, found only in the wet tropics, is also one of the plant specimens Gondwana aims to preserve.
‘Nature knows no borders, and the remnant rainforest that sits just outside these parks on the Maalan Cloud Forest property holds just as much value,’ said Mr Kelvin Davies who is the founder of the Gondwana Rainforest Trust.
The Maalan Cloud Forest property will also connect the world heritage-listed Maalan and Wooroonooran National Parks. As World Heritage Areas, the two parks are considered to hold such ‘outstanding universal value’ that their conservation is important for current and future generations.
Help is desperately needed to reach the $1.2 million goal that Gondwana needs to purchase and preserve this land. The Maalan Cloud Forest is a ‘critical piece of the puzzle’ to protecting species that are threatened by the growing temperatures in Far North Queensland.
To donate visit https://www.gondwanarainforesttrust.org/paypal_donate or contact the Gondwana Rainforest Trust to volunteer.
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