Flinders Karawatha Corridor

The Queensland Government, in partnership with local government and the community, is committed to maintaining and enhancing the rural and environmental amenity of the Flinders Karawatha Corridor.

This is not a statutory planning program that determines future land uses. The partnership and its activities will provide incentives that will assist landholders. Assistance to landholders will ensure the values of the corridor are maintained for future generations. Participation by landholders will be completely voluntary and inclusion in the corridor program does not impose any new regulations. No property rights will be restricted by inclusion within the Flinders Karawatha Corridor boundary.

The Queensland Government, in partnership with local government, is working on a long-term corridor management strategy. Once completed, the strategy will identify actions that maintain and enhance the values of the corridor. The strategy will focus project partners and the community on key activities that ensure the long-term maintenance of the corridor. Focusing funding streams that provide incentives to landholders for land management will be a key theme for the management strategy.

In order to maintain the corridor’s values, issues such as management of fire, weeds and erosion control need be coordinated. In some cases innovative engineering solutions may be required to ensure wildlife can safely travel between habitats. Management and coordination of incentive programs will be overseen by the project partners. All participation by the community and landholders in these programs will be voluntary.

The corridor is the largest remaining continuous stretch of open eucalypt bushland in South East Queensland and is a significant landscape feature for the region.

The corridor extends from Karawatha Forest in Brisbane’s southern suburbs to Flinders Peak, on to the south side of Ipswich and down to the Wyaralong Dam near Boonah.

The corridor is about 563.5 square kilometres (km²) or 56,350 hectares in size and about 60km long. In comparison:

• Brisbane Forest Park (now officially the southern part of D'Aguilar National Park) is about 25,000 hectares in size
• North Stradbroke Island is about 285km² or 28,500 hectares and 38km long.

The corridor contains significant rural areas for the region as well as outdoor recreation opportunities on the numerous public estates. The corridor contributes to the long-term health and wellbeing of the people in the region, by providing clean air, clean water, healthy landscapes, areas for grazing, farming and biodiversity.

Read about the opportunities and benefits for landowners (PDF, 521K)* 

• Background
• Nature on the doorstep
• Recreational opportunities
• Managing the corridor
• Be involved

Background

The peaks and low hills, creeks and flats in the corridor have attracted people to the region since the first Aboriginal people arrived in Australia. The area’s natural values and rural pursuits are now under intense pressure from urbanisation and other uses as the population continues to increase in South East Queensland. Vegetation clearing, increased frequency of fires, weeds and feral animals have all impacted on the values of the corridor.

The Flinders Karawatha Corridor crosses of the boundaries of Ipswich City, Logan City, Scenic Rim and Brisbane City councils and traverses the suburbs of:

Allendale	Allenview	Bromelton	Browns Plains	Camira
Carole Park	Coulson	Deebing Heights	Drewvale	Forestdale
Goolman	Greenbank	Heathwood	Kagaru	Karawatha
Kuraby	Larapinta	Logan Central	Lyons	Milbong
New Beith	Parkinson	Peak Crossing	Purga	Redbank Plains
Roadvale	Runcorn	South Ripley	Spring Mountain	Springfield Lakes
Stretton	Undullah	Washpool	White Rock	Woodridge
Woolooman	Wyaralong

The Flinders Karawatha Corridor also sits between new urban communities being developed in the region, including Greater Flagstone, Greenbank and Yarrabilba in Logan City, and Springfield and Ripley Valley in Ipswich City. Development and population growth in these new inland urban areas will relieve pressures on coastal parts of the region and are expected to support 475,000 new residents by 2031.

These growth areas present challenges in the corridor between balancing sustainable regional growth and maintaining the corridor’s environmental values.

As the residential population expands, demand in this southern part of South East Queensland for recreation space will also increase. While the majority of the urban growth will occur in the southern part of the region, the majority of recreation and open space is located in the northern part.

The Flinders Karawatha Corridor provides an opportunity to better balance growth with recreation and open space in the southern part of South East Queensland.

Nature on the doorstep

The corridor includes a range of distinctive habitats including rocky hills, wetlands and eucalypt forest. Abundant plant and animal life is dependent on these habitats, including a significant number of rare and threatened flora and fauna:

• powerful owl
• brush tailed rock wallaby
• koala
• wallum froglet
• Lloyd’s native olive—one of the rarest plants in Queensland
• Flinders Plum—a rare Australian rainforest tree.

There are some conservation reserves in the corridor that provide long-term protection and management of habitats for these species; some owned by local councils and some by the Queensland Government. The majority of land within the corridor is privately-owned showing the importance of the role of landholders in managing land in a way that supports local flora and fauna populations.

Recreational opportunities

The current reserves within the Flinders Karawatha Corridor provide open space and recreational opportunities for one of Australia’s fastest growing regions, catering for people who enjoy bushwalking, bird watching, mountain biking, horse riding, picnics, and beautiful green and open space vistas.

At present there are different activities allowed in each area. Coordinated management will also allow for high-impact activities such as mountain bike riding, trail biking, horse riding and other outdoor activities to be offered in the most suitable location. Read about the opportunities and benefits for landowners (PDF, 521K)*.

Managing the corridor

The Queensland Government will coordinate the protection of open space recreational development and the management and funding of the corridor project in partnership with local government and non-government organisations. In order to protect the corridor’s biodiversity, degraded habitats will be rehabilitated and innovative engineering solutions will be applied to ensure wildlife can safely travel between habitats.

The government, in partnership with local government is working on a long-term management strategy to be known as the Flinders Karawatha Corridor Management Strategy.

The government’s 5-year vision aims to make the land connected for wildlife and people and will involve 2 key phases:

1. Planning the proposed corridor

Between October and December 2011, consultation was undertaken with landholders, councils, the development industry, rural industry and environmental groups to define the boundaries of the proposed corridor.

The current priorities are to:

• develop a corridor management strategy to consolidate the community vision for the corridor
• determine the funding approaches to implementing the vision. These will be used to facilitate rebuilding habitat and connectivity values.

2. Managing the proposed corridor

Assistance programs and incentives can be provided to landholders for their involvement in management practices that support the ongoing maintenance of the corridor's values.

Public infrastructure, such as walking trails, may be provided over time as need and resources are available. Likewise, opportunities to improve wildlife habitat connectivity will rely largely on the establishment of voluntary incentive programs for landholders.

Be involved

The Queensland Government reviewed the initial consultation process undertaken by the former Department of Environment and Resource Management in 2011, as well as the preliminary work developed for the release of a draft management strategy for the corridor.

The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) provided a revised assessment of the consultation undertaken and included recommendations for a revised vision and boundary for the corridor to the Queensland Government during October 2012.

EHP is providing an opportunity for you to comment on draft corridor management strategies that are now available online (PDF, 3.1M)*. All feedback will be considered prior to completing the final strategy.

The draft management strategy has been developed following consultation with government, industry, conservation groups, landholders and the broader community, and will help guide investment into key activities that will ensure the corridor is maintained into the future.

The consultation process for development of the draft management strategy will also include targeted consultation with relevant community and interest groups. I invite you to comment on the draft management strategy and have your say in the future management of the corridor.

Submissions in relation to the draft management strategy will be accepted until 31 March 2013 and can be forwarded to the following email or post box addresses:

Email: Esres.Southernescbranch@ehp.qld.gov.au

Mail: C/o Flinders Karawatha Draft Strategy
Environmental Standards and Compliance Branch
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
GPO Box 2454
BRISBANE QLD 4001

All submissions received, together with information obtained through forums and interest group meetings, will be collated and analysed and a report published during 2013. This report will provide recommendations to the government to guide development of the final management strategy.

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