Logan Escarpment
State: QLD | Hectares: 43 | IUCN Category: IV | Partner: Logan City Council
Powerful owl | photo: Julian Robinson
A private bushland property on Brisbane's outskirts, home to a number of Queensland koalas, is now part of Australia's National Reserve System.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett joined Logan City Mayor Pam Parker on Sunday 19 April 2009 to announce the conservation purchase of Logan Escarpment, a 43 hectare property 30 kilometres south of Brisbane's CBD, to become part of Cornubia Forest Park.
This is the first property purchase by one of the 11 Councils in the South East Queensland Councils Partnership. Councils in the partnership are identifying land within their jurisdictions that could be purchased with the help of Australian government funding to add to the National Reserve System.
The Logan Escarpment is a high biodiversity forest remnant which is part of the most important and largest quality koala habitat/population in Australia. The site contains old growth forest which is rare in Brisbane, and is recognised as a wildlife refuge.
The area is an area of high species richness and contains numerous known or likely fauna/flora species of bioregional, state, national and international significance.
The site buffers other areas of national significance including the Carbrook Wetlands and Bayview Conservation Parks which are important for a number of migratory birds.
The land will be managed to:
- maintain the habitat mosiac of the site, including the high proportion of local primary and secondary koala habitat trees
- ensure connectivity with surrounding reserves and parks, and
- maintain the migratory species habitat and buffering function for nearby Moreton Bay wetlands.
Swamp wallaby | photo: Julian Robinson
The Logan Escarpment makes a nationally significant contribution to the reserve system as the site will:
- protect core koala habitat and provide wildlife refugia
- buffer and link other conservation areas of significance, including the Carbrook Wetlands, Cornubia Forest Park, Venman National Park and Daisy Hill State Forest
- protect rare old-growth forest
- protect a range of significant or old growth dependent species, including the following species known from or in close proximity, such as koala, greater glider, squirrel glider, powerful owl, glossy-black cockatoo, black-chinned honeyeater, square-tailed kite, regent honeyeater, tusked frog, eprapah wattle, hickory wattle and hairy walnut.
- protect a high proportion of local primary and secondary koala food and habitat trees, including tallowood, grey ironbark, narrow-leaved red gum, Queensland white stringybark, broad-leafed white mahogany, spotted gum, pink bloodwood and brush box.
The Australian Government contributed $1.5 million under the Caring for Our Country program and Logan City Council contributed $1.2 million to purchase the property.
More information about some of the fauna now protected in Logan Escarpment can be found by following the links below.
N.B. information on the websites linked to below is not created by, or necessarily the views of, Parks Australia.
- Squirrel glider
- Powerful owl
- Square-tailed kite
- Swamp wallaby
- Greater glider
- Glossy black cockatoo
- Tusked frog (PDF 207KB)
