Rainforest Live '97 Journals from Queensland, Australia

  From the week ending March 21, 1997

What a Wonderful Week!
by Ann Chanecka

Wow, it has been one exciting week! Sunday, our day off, we went to Granite Gorge, a beautiful area full of large boulders to climb on, rock wallabies (they look like kangaroos but a bit smaller), and nice swimming holes. It was a great day!

Monday, we started our third case study on watershed management. A local Aboriginal man came to speak to us about his life growing up and various Aborigine issues. In the afternoon, we visited the forest where he grew up. His clan had roamed that area looking for food and living in harmony with nature for many years.

Wednesday, we visited an organic fruit farm where we were able to taste many delicious and rare kinds of fruit. That night we went to an Aborigine boarding house to visit 8-12th grade kids. We had a great time meeting the kids, learning from them, and watching some of them play music, sing, and dance! This week has been wonderful and we are starting to prepare for another very busy, but exciting week, that lies ahead! 

 

The Final Chapter!
by Rosemary Penna

We began our last case study this week which focuses on watershed management. A watershed is the total area of land that drains directly into a river system. Since many creeks flow into rivers, a watershed or catchment area can be quite large. This is important because watersheds contain many different types of land (rainforest, mangroves and farms) which all impact the watershed. One thing we will focus on in this case study is the role of vegetation along creeks. There are many reasons to protect a watershed’s waterways with a strip of rainforest, one of the most important is to prevent erosion.

We have visited three types of farms (sugar cane, banana and dairy) in the last few days which all have streams or rivers on their land. Each farmer had different reasons for protecting the waterways, but all agreed it is worthwhile to do not only for them, but for the entire watershed area. Another thing we will be focusing on in this case study is cost-benefit economic analysis. This analysis is a valuable tool for people making management decisions about watersheds, endangered species or reforestation.

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