Environmental Planning and Management in Tropical Rainforests

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1 PROGRAM Program Leader: Professor Geoff McDonald Environmental Planning and Management in Tropical Rainforests Tropical forests are restricted in extent and subject to expanding development pressures from growing residential populations that place increasing demands on natural ecosystems, including increased land and water demands for recreational, agricultural, tourism and urban use. Managers and planners have identified the need for tools and information for decision-making at a variety of scales ranging from strategic planning for bio-regions to design and monitoring at local and site scales. Their overriding need is to find ways to achieve ecologically sustainable development that balances ecological, economic and social values of the rainforest itself and surrounding lands. This program applies innovative research to deliver the tools necessary for efficient planning and management at a range of scales, and links with other programs to provide a vital means of translating scientific research to assist the management and planning tasks of land owners, government decision-makers and developers. Project. - Bio-Regional Planning Project Leader: Professor Geoff McDonald (UQ) This project has the goal of creating a set of principles for integrated environmental planning and management at the bioregion level by adopting the principles of sustainable development and ecologically sustainable forest management. It will provide methods, tools and case studies for natural resource programs in the rainforest region for use by government and industry groups including farmers, land developers and foresters. After evaluating the adequacy of existing environmental and resource management and identifying gaps and functions, it will develop an integrated set of priorities (desired environmental outcomes) for all tropical rainforest lands. The combination and extension of existing planning activities and incorporation of science outputs from other Rainforest CRC projects will assist in accomplishing these objectives. Milestone 0/02 Achievements 0/02 Milestone 02/023 Major achievements in the project this year include the commencement of preparation of the Wet Tropics Regional Natural Resource Management Plan, the completion of a Draft Monitoring Strategy for FNQ Regional Plan and the publication of eight conference and refereed papers by the Project Leader and research students. A vegetation management forum was held in April 2002, attended by over 70 local planners, which identified a number of problems that remain unresolved in conservation and vegetation management in the Wet Tropics. At least 2 PSG meetings to ensure Program 2 PSG meetings held. 2 meetings proposed. is focused on research priorities for the region. Publication of the ESFM report. ESFM paper to be published as: McDonald, At least one technical paper to be submitted Follow-up on key areas of management G.T., and Lane, M.B., 2002: Forest on techniques of regional planning and one weakness identified. Management Systems Evaluation: on processes of regional planning. Using ISO4000. Finalise decision support tool for rainforest Substantial progress made by Mr David- Study to be completed mid planners. Temple-Smith on Johnston Shire case study A nnual Rep or t 9

2 Report on analysis structure, process and Commencement of joint project (with NR&MB Project due for completion June methods for regional planning. and NQAA) on Wet Tropics Regional Resource Plan. Local planning workshop. Report on research Vegetation management Forum held Possibility of a sequel workshop on local into processes for improving rainforest planning. 29 April, Attended by 70 local planners. planning. Recruit Postdoctoral Fellow. No funding Project.2 - Monitoring Changes in Rainforest Vegetation Structure and Condition and their Drainage Systems Project Leader: Dr Stuart Phinn (UQ) and Dr Alex Held (CSIRO) This project evaluated the capacity of a number of innovative technologies to discern tropical forest canopy characteristics and estimate their biophysical properties. Its aim was to provide reliable, cost-effective environmental monitoring approaches for integrated planning in rainforest regions and, working in collaboration with managers, develop techniques that use the latest and highest quality airborne and satellite hyperspectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data sets to map the biophysical properties of rainforests. Results of a significant portion of Project.2 work were communicated to stakeholders through a workshop in November 200 with managers from the Wet Tropics region, and publication of a Rainforest CRC Report. An MoU is in the process of being established with a major remote sensing data provider Ball-AIMS, to apply the techniques developed in commercial operations. Image processing and analysis has moved to regional scale applications with the completion of radar mapping of vegetation communities for the Wet Tropics in association with the Global Rainforest Mapping Project. A collaborative project with M.Setter (NR&M) to assess the suitability of remote sensing for mapping Pond-apple was funded for 2002 from the Weeds of National Significance Program. Significant field programs were completed by associated PhD students, with new student projects starting up on long term changes to tropical forests and carbon accounting. This project is now complete and a new project will be commencing during the next year. Milestone 0/02 Achievements 0/02 Develop methods to monitor foliar chemistry and forest composition from airborne and satellite imaging systems. Imaging radar at regional (JERS) and local scales (AIRSAR) processed to map forest composition and structure. Maps of forest structure, composition, condition and foliar chemistry. Map derived from imaging radar (JERS) work and P.Scarth PhD work of forest composition and structure variables for the Wet Tropics. Collection of baseline image and field data sets. Baseline image acquisition for hyperspectral imaging satellite data (A.Held part of NASA Hyperion Science Validation Team). Follow up-collection of field data by P.Scarth and C.Ticehurst for regional scale mapping. Acquisition of monthly, long-term vegetation index data site for the Wet Tropics. Interim image products available for visualisation JERS (regional scale radar) based maps to be and verification. presented at the GRFM meeting in April. Preliminary products displayed at workshop in November 200 from Landsat image analysis. Transfer of successful approaches into a commercial application environment licensed through Rainforest CRC. 20 Development of a MoU with Ball-AIMS (major Australian and international) remote sensing data provider to commercialise techniques. Co oper ative Resea r ch Centr e

3 Project.3 - Information Integration and Capacity-building for Informed Decision-making in the Wet Tropics Project Leader: Dr Daniel Walker (CSIRO) This pilot project scoped options for an integrated natural resource information infrastructure for the Wet Tropics to facilitate resource planning and management based on evidence. It developed a structure and business plan for a collaborative resource information management initiative to deliver efficient and equitable access to integrated information and analytical tools to underpin decision-making. It aims to enhance the understanding of data availability, accessibility, management, integration and use for decision-making and to increase collaboration across key resource management sectors in the Wet Tropics. Scoping has been completed. Interviews with representative stakeholders revealed that there are significant issues associated with the management of data within the region and all participants agreed the process needed to be addressed to improve information flow and better collaboration between organisations. Some of the major issues identified included: currency of information, data licensing, methodologies for collating and maintaining data, metadata, data visibility, accessibility, and reliability and effective tools for managing data and resources. Results of the survey have been analysed and documented in a scoping phase report. A project structure and proposal for a full phase has been developed now the initial scoping project has been completed. Milestone 0/02 Achievements 0/02 Report detailing evaluation of current practice and opportunities completed. Report has been developed and will be provided to the Steering Committee before June Review of institutions, models and initiatives for Report has been developed and will be improving access to and use of resource provided to the Steering Committee before June information. Project.4 - Multi-objective Systems Modelling Project Leader: Mr Paul Walker (CSIRO) This project evaluated options for biodiversity protection in regions with industries like tourism, which are attracted to locations of high biodiversity values. It sought practical solutions to management requirements for cost-effective planning strategies by developing a toolkit that evaluates options and trade-offs between the effects of tourism and the conservation of biodiversity. The project used CSIRO developed software DIVERSITY TARGET to focus initially on both the Douglas Shire and Atherton Tablelands areas of north Queensland. Milestone 0/02 Achievements 0/02 The TARGET software was revised this year and tested by Dan Faith of the Australian Museum and Craig James CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems. To date the software has been able to process up to 8000 biodiversity attributes and 500 locations. A facility to run batch commands to speed up the processing of large applications has been developed. Command files for processing data on Douglas Shire have also been developed and tested and show the use of TARGET software for achieving biodiversity targets against a range of criteria and considerations. A report describing the software, file structures and application of the command files has been prepared. This project is now completed. Report on biodiversity-tourism evaluation for Study Area. Revised report on TARGET software A nnual Rep or t Analyses commenced. Databases created and batch commands for undertaking the Target runs tested. Batch commands run and results collated. Document revised to describe new file structures and batch commands. Expected completion nd of May

4 Project.5. - Culturally Sustainable Management Project Leader: Dr Rosemary Hill (JCU) Project.5. is developing policies, protocols and practical mechanisms for recognising Aboriginal peoples values, rights and responsibilities associated with rainforest environments, thereby establishing the key principles of culturally sustainable rainforest management. Collaborative research this year focused strongly on practical mechanisms for integrating Indigenous approaches to management. Key achievements included two consultancies for Aboriginal organisations, development of a new project on Native Title Planning as part of the Indigenous Land Use Agreement process, investigation of the implementation of the Yalanji Fire Protocol in the Daintree National Park and formation and work with the Management Committee for production of the Sunrise Kuku-Yalanji Fire Management Handbook. Masters student Leah Talbot collected data about Djabugay Indigenous land management techniques and further student projects have been initiated which investigate the Interim Negotiating Forum, document the agreement process over the Ma:Mu Canopy Walkway, and document Ma:Mu cultural values associated with rainforest plants. The James Cook University legal section cooperated to achieve better institutional support for collaborative research this year through the production of a model agreement which protects Indigenous intellectual property and provides researchers with a non-commercial, conditional license. Milestone 0/02 Achievements 0/02 Milestone 02/023 Release of publications from fire management A journal article, book section, and conference Release of further publications. data collection and implementation of fire paper released. protocol. Establish Project Management Team and Management Team established and protocols Hold meetings of Project Management Team protocols for development of Sunrise Kuku-Yalanji adopted. development for Sunrise Kuku-Yalanji Fire Fire Management Handbook. Management Handbook. Completion of Sunrise Kuku-Yalanji Fire Draft completed; finalisation due late Completion, printing and distribution of Management Handbook. Handbook. Literature review of criteria relevant to the Completed and reported. Further reports related to the ILUA as Yalanji ILUA. requested by the CYLC. Establishment of research to support Framework PhD student established. Collection of data regarding the Interim Regional Agreement. Negotiation Forum and the Framework Regional Agreement. Documentation of Djabugay people s land Data collection ongoing. Completion of Masters thesis on Djabugay management techniques. Indigenous land management techniques. 22 Co oper ative Resea r ch Centr e

5 Project Cultural Information Support Systems Project Leader: Dr Rosemary Hill (JCU) Project.5.2 will develop culturally appropriate information support systems that provide information about the progress towards culturally sustainable management being undertaken in Project.5.. The cultural indicators project has advanced to the pilot data collection stage and is scheduled for completion by June Workshops were held with WTMA, Girringun, Jumbun, and Environment Australia and data collection meetings with Innisfail and District Education Office, Aboriginal Language Resource specialists, Tully High School, Cardwell Shire Council, QPWS Cardwell, WTMA, Jumbun, and JCU researchers. Data collection is now complete on many indicators. The GIS project was presented to a major meeting of Yalanji people in October, and an agreement to proceed with the research has been developed. The project has been deferred for a period and is now scheduled for completion in mid 2003, with data collection to commence in July Milestone 0/02 Achievements 0/02 Milestone 02/023 Report on case studies on Cultural Indicators. Data collection for pilot study with Jumbun Conduct of major national workshop on Community is at an advanced stage. Report to Cultural Indicators and preparation of book be finished June from the workshop. Literature review of GIS. Literature review completed Trials with Yalanji. Agreement on the GIS research reached with Completion of Honours thesis on the potential Yalanji. Trails deferred till July of GIS use by Yalanji people A nnual Rep or t 23