Mooloolah River National Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mooloolah River National Park Queensland
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Mooloolah River National Park Location in Queensland
Established	1960
Area	6.69 km2 (2.6 sq mi)
Managing authorities	Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
Website	Mooloolah River National Park
See also	Protected areas of Queensland

The Mooloolah River National Park is a special protected area in Queensland, Australia. You can find it on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. This park covers about 831 hectares (that's like 2,000 football fields!). It's next to the Mooloolah River and some roads.

Part of the park is cut in half by the Sunshine Motorway. The northern part was added later. This area became a national park in 1960. Around the park, there are farms, towns, and the University of the Sunshine Coast. It's the second biggest park on the coastal lowlands in South East Queensland. The park shows what low-lying coastal areas, called floodplains, look like.

The Jowarra section of the park is a bit separate. It's a small piece of coastal rainforest. You can only reach it by the Mooloolah River. People visit the park to study nature, go bushwalking, and watch birds.

What Makes Mooloolah River Park Special?

The Mooloolah River National Park is a very important home for many animals and plants. These species are native to eastern Australia and South East Queensland. The park has different types of ecosystems, which means it has a lot of different species. It's a key place for coastal heathlands, which used to be common here. These heathlands provide a safe place for many plants and animals.

Almost half of the park is a wet heath swamp. About one-third is a tree swamp with Melaleuca and Eucalyptus trees. These are found in the park's wetland areas.

Rare Plants in the Park

Seven of the ten plant communities in the park are very important for the region. Some trees, like the forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) and blackbutt-tallowwood (Eucalyptus pilularis-E. microcorys), are endangered. This means they are at high risk of disappearing.

Other plant groups are listed as of concern. These include the paperbark teatree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) forests, wallum banksia (Banksia aemula) woodlands, scribbly gum (Eucalyptus racemosa) forests, sedgelands, and closed heath.

Amazing Plants of the Park

The park has many different types of plants native to the area. Some of these plants are very rare or threatened. The park is home to three plant species listed as endangered. It also has two species listed as vulnerable.

• The Mt Emu Sheoak (Allocasuarina emuina) is an endangered shrub. It grows in coastal heathlands in South East Queensland. This plant needs fire to help its seeds grow.
• The swamp stringybark (Eucalyptus conglomerata) is also endangered. It grows in sandy, wet soils between forests and heathlands.
• The Christmas Bells (Blandfordia grandiflora) plant is endangered. You can find it in damp heathland and sedgeland areas with sandy soil.

Two types of wattle are also found here:

• The Acacia attenuata is vulnerable. It grows near the coast between wet heathland and eucalypt forests. It also needs fire to help its seeds sprout.
• The tiny wattle (Acacia bauera subsp. baueri) is vulnerable.

Animals Living in the Park

Mammals of the Park

The park is home to 19 different types of mammals. You might see:

• Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus gignateus)
• Swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)
• Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
• Different kinds of bats, like the eastern bent-winged bat and little bent-winged bat.
• Four types of native rats.
• Brush and ringtail possums.
• Flying foxes.

Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) have been seen in the area. However, there isn't a known large group living in the park itself.

Amphibians: The Acid Frogs

The park has ten types of frogs. Some are called 'acid frogs' because they can live in acidic water. Their favorite homes are wet coastal heathlands with acidic water (pH less than 5). Losing coastal wetlands and changes in water quality are big threats to them.

These special frogs include:

• The wallum froglet (Crinnia tinnula)
• The wallum sedgefrog (Litoria olongburensis)
• The wallum rocketfrog (Litoria freycineti)

These three frogs are vulnerable. They can survive fires if there's enough water. The introduced cane toad (Rhinella marina) is also found in the park.

Birds of the Park

The park is a birdwatcher's paradise, with up to 136 different bird species! Some important birds you might spot are:

• Eastern grass owl
• Sea eagles
• Various parrot species
• Goshawks and kites
• The white-throated needletail
• Egrets and herons
• Wedge-tailed eagles and wrens

The nutmeg mannikin (Lonchura punctulata) is an introduced finch from Asia. It can live in disturbed areas and might compete with native finches. The park is also home to the ground parrot (Pezoporus wallicus wallicus), which is vulnerable. It lives in heathlands and sedgelands. Predators like the eastern grass owl, feral cats, brown falcons (Falco berigora), and snakes hunt it.

Reptiles in the Park

Nine types of reptiles live in the park. These include:

• Lace monitor (Varanus varius)
• Eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii)
• Freshwater snake (Tropidonophis mairii)
• Golden crowned snake (Cacophis squamulosus)

Insects: Butterflies and More

The park has five types of butterflies:

• Common evening brown (Melanitis leda bankia)
• Monarch (Danaus plexippus plexippus)
• The Richmond Birdwing (Ornithoptera richmondia)
• Two types of jezebel butterflies (Delias sp.), including the black jezebel (Delias nigrina).

The vulnerable Richmond Birdwing butterfly is special. It only lives in subtropical northern NSW and South East Queensland. Its home is shrinking because rainforests are being cleared. This butterfly needs a specific plant to lay its eggs on: the Richmond Birdwing butterfly vine (Pararistolochia praevenosa). This vine is also near threatened. It faces threats from invasive weeds and land clearing. Another vine, the introduced Dutchman's pipe vine, is poisonous to the Richmond Birdwing larvae. Luckily, it hasn't been found in the park yet.

Threats to the Park's Environment

The Sunshine Coast area is growing fast with new buildings. This puts a lot of pressure on the Mooloolah River National Park. Urban development is taking over natural bushland. This makes the park more isolated from other natural areas.

Heathlands, which were once common, are now shrinking. Animals and plants that live in these areas are now threatened. Many areas where 'wallum dependent' species (like the wallum rocketfrog) lived have been cleared. These areas were often seen as "useless lands" and used for farming, sand mining, and housing. The southern parts of the park are next to grazing lands, which also bring in many introduced weed species.

Challenges for Park Species

Many things threaten the park. This means park managers need to watch species numbers closely. They need to make sure they don't drop unexpectedly. For example, fires are important for some species. But if fires happen too often or not enough, it can harm plants and animals. This is because people need to protect homes nearby.

Changes to drainage systems around the park can also affect its water balance and quality. This is a big problem for frogs, who need specific water conditions.

• The Mt Emu Sheoak is threatened by habitat loss, urban growth, and farming outside the park. Inside the park, altered fire patterns and invasive species are a problem.
• The Acacia attenuata is also threatened by changes in fire, habitat loss, and changes to water flow.
• For the swamp stringybark, the main threats are clearing, drainage work, invasive plants like groundsel bush, exotic grasses, and fires that happen too often.

Climate Change Impacts

In the future, climate change might affect the park. Longer dry periods could mean less water for acid frogs and other amphibians. This would make it harder for them to find safe places during fires. Less rain also dries out the Richmond Birdwing vine, making it useless for the butterfly larvae.

On the other hand, more floods or drier conditions could change water quality. This might help some plant species grow more than others. For example, lantana (Lantana camara), a harmful weed, might spread more easily with climate change.

Invasive Species in the Park

Besides the cane toad, other introduced animals like cats (Felis catus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are in the park. Cattle from nearby grazing areas sometimes enter the park. They can damage native plants and trample vegetation.

The park has up to 22 types of invasive plants and weeds. These include groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia), camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), and lantana (Lantana camara). Lantana is considered a "Weed of National Significance" because it causes so much damage. Many exotic grasses are also present.

How the Park is Managed

The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) manages the Mooloolah River National Park. Their work follows the Nature Conservation Act 1992. Each park has its own Management Plan. For this park, it's the Mooloolah Park River National Park Management Plan.

This plan describes the park, its species, and the threats it faces. It also explains how to manage the park. Common management actions include:

• Planning when to do controlled burns.
• Removing weeds.
• Controlling invasive animals.

These actions help most species in the park.

Protecting Threatened Species

Many threatened species in the park also have their own special recovery plans.

• For the Mt Emu Sheoak, plans include protecting its home, moving plants to new areas, managing fires, controlling stormwater, and removing weeds. Watching the plant populations and learning more about them are also important.
• For the swamp stringybark, similar actions are taken. This includes monitoring, checking genetic diversity, reducing threats, and collecting seeds.

It's important to control erosion and stormwater runoff. This helps protect plant seeds that are stored in the soil.

Fire Management

Heathland areas need fire to grow and regenerate. However, fires are now managed differently to protect nearby homes. Understanding how fire affects different ecosystems in the park is crucial. Fires that are too rare or too frequent can destroy habitats and food sources. The current plan is to burn no more than 30% of the park in any one year, following an 8-12 year cycle.

The Mooloolah National Park Management Plan and the QPWS Planned Burn Guidelines provide rules for these burns. They help managers burn different plant communities (like heathlands or forests) in the best way for their health. These guidelines also help control harmful weeds like lantana and avoid dangerous peat fires.

Protecting Buffer Zones

Managing the areas around the park is also very important. Many species found inside the park also live in these surrounding "buffer zones." These areas might not have as much protection as the park itself. But they provide a valuable larger home for the park's species. Actions like removing weeds, keeping out livestock, and controlled burns in areas like the Lower Mooloolah River Environmental Reserve help protect the park's ecosystems.

Images for kids

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  Park vegetation, 2014

See also

In Spanish: Parque nacional Río Mooloolah para niños