Lota and Tingalpa Creek Catchments
Catchment characteristics
The Lota Creek catchment begins its journey as a mere trickle, near the Sleeman Sports Complex in the suburb of Chandler. It covers 18 square kilometres and includes the suburbs of Ransome, Wakerley, Gumdale, Manly West and Lota.
The Tingalpa Creek catchment covers 117.3 square kilometres falling within three local government areas – Brisbane, Logan and Redland City Councils.
Lota and Tingalpa creeks merge near the mouth of both creeks, before spilling out into Moreton Bay.
Natural assets Significant natural assets in the Lota and Lower Tingalpa Creek catchments include: Bayside Parklands – A 16 kilometre ribbon of water-edged parks covering open forests, wallum, melaleuca swamps, tidal creeks, saltmarshes, mangroves and mud flats. -
Tingalpa Creek Reserve Ransome Bushlands – Very popular with nature lovers providing extensive boardwalks, bike paths and a footbridge which winds through the mangroves. Brisbane Koala Bushland – A great place to chance a sighting of a koala as you walk along the nature trails.
Land Uses
Rural residential properties dominate the upper Lota Creek catchment, where horse grazing, horticulture and lifestyle properties are common. In the more densely populated areas of the catchment, land uses include factories, industries, schools, golf courses, and medium-to-high-density housing.
While the Brisbane portion of the Lower Tingalpa Creek catchment has large tracts of good quality natural habitat, with much of the lower catchment area having been preserved and protected in its natural state, a relatively small percentage of natural vegetation has been cleared for rural residential housing.
Did you know?
Lota and TIngalpa Creek catchments have large areas of land that form part of the extensive Bayside Parklands, providing movement corridors for hundreds of species of native animals from the mountains to the Sea.
Fauna
T he estuarine area of both creeks includes part of the Moreton Bay Marine Park/RAMSAR-listed, internationally-recognised wetlands. As such there are marine mammals such as, dugong (Dugon dugon), bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates) and humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) that you may see if you’re looking out at the bay from the foreshore at the right time of year.
The Lota Creek catchment area boasts a remarkable diversity of birds due to the variety of habitats that it contains. During the past 20 years, over 190 species of birds have been recorded in the catchment area.
Although primarily established to protect koala habitat, around 280 indigenous fauna species have been recorded within the Brisbane Koala Bushland Boundaries. Apart from the commonly-sighted koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), many other mammals also call the Tingalpa Creek catchment home. Importantly, the area provides habitat for one of the world’s most notable monotremes, the echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).
F lora
The remaining vegetation within the Lota and Tingalpa Creek catchments ranges from areas of natural bushland and open forest in the upper areas to melaleuca and eucalypt forest in the mid-catchment areas, and fresh and salt water wetland habitats in the mid-to-lower catchment. There are also important mangrove and saltmarsh habitats nearer the bay and along the foreshore.
Within the Tingalpa Creek catchment, Brisbane Koala Bushland represents a large area of relatively intact bushland, with a varied landscape, natural features and vegetation. With a combination of steep slopes, rolling coastal plains, lowlands, creeks and water bodies, it supports an extremely high biodiversity. Twenty species of plants have been identified as having citywide or higher significance including large-leaved spotted gum (Corymbia henryi), swamp grass tree (Xanthorrhoea fulya), wedge-leaved tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis shirleyana) and plunkett mallee (Eucaluptus curtisii).
The Bayside Creek Catchment Group (BCCG) is a community-based organisation that aims to rehabilitate, restore and maintain local waterways by supporting and encouraging community participation and partnership. The overall aim of BCCG is to protect and enhance the health and natural processes of Wynnum, Lota and Lower Tingalpa Creeks and their catchments.
Projects Include:
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Lota Estuary Restoration Project
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Lota Reserve Bushcare Group
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Mookin-bah Reserve Biodiversity Enhancement Project
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Mookin-bah Bushcare Group
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Harmans Reserve Bushcare Group
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Melaleuca Environment Park Bushcare Group.
Council’s community conservation partnerships program helps community groups restore natural habitats in parks, remnant bushland and wetlands along waterways. There are currently a number of active bushcare groups tending rehabilitation sites in the Lota and Tingalpa Creek catchments.
The program also supports the community to protect and restore Brisbane’s waterways and bays in partnership with groups, businesses, schools and individual property owners.
For more information on Council’s community conservation partnerships program and environment centres phone Council on (07) 3403 8888.
Websites
Brisbane City Council: www.brisbane.qld.gov.au
Bayside Creek Catchment Group:
www.baysidecreeks.org.au
info@baysidecreeks.org.au
Brisbane Catchment Network: www.brisbanecatchments.net.au
Healthy Waterways: www.healthywaterways.org
SEQ Catchments: www.seqcatchments.com.au
Logan City Council: www.logan.qld.gov.au
Redland City Council: www.redland.gov.au |
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