Climate change is affecting our Country. We are very concerned about how it will affect our land, sea and people.In 2009 Simon Thompson and Traditional Owners commenced a monitoring program, and observed Melaleuca saligna, Melaleuca foliolosa and Hakea pedunculata dying on the boundary between the salt flats and the Melaleuca woodlands at four locations around Princess Charlotte Bay. The first was on Maramba (Silver Plains) north of Massey Creek, the second was near the mouth of Annie River, the third was south of Bathurst Bay and the fourth was at the Muck River in Cape Melville NP (CYPAL). All sites were low lying with very flat topography.
The trend of salt encroachment has been observed by Glen Shephard a long term resident of the area. In Glen’s lifetime, trees have always been dying on the edge of the salt flats. In the past 40 years the salt incursion has covered 400-500 metres of grasslands and Teatree woodlands behind Dinner Hole and Blue Water. Blue Water was a freshwater waterhole but is now a tidal lagoon (Glen Shephard, pers. comm., 2016).
Our People have many significant cultural sites around the coastal lowlands (Elaine Liddy, pers. comm., 2016). We have been aware of the progressive loss of healthy vegetation on the edge of the salt pans over many years. We have observed potential threats to our cultural values and have experienced issues accessing story sites. In June 2016, we expressed concern and distress over the observed impacts to the natural values of our Country.
The preliminary report from this work describes the observations made and discusses the possible causes, to give land managers a better understanding of the likely processes at work. Through our ongoing monitoring program, we continue to observe changes in saltwater incursion and mangrove recruitment.
Read more here: http://capeyorknrm.com.au/node/513
