ACEAS VEG-TRANS Qld, Wooroonooran Nature Refuge, Atherton Tablelands, Redlynch

Pre-European benchmark-analogue vegetation: The original vegetation for the site was a complex mesophyll vine forest on basaltic red loams on wet uplands, altitude 720 metres with 4.421 mm rainfall (av annual records for the period 1993-2011, Source: Peter Stanton). Brief chronology of changes in land use and management: 1924 Start of selective logging of high value timber species. 1930 Finish of selective logging of high value timber species – intent to convert rainforest to pasture. 1931 Start of land clearing of the previously logged forest – intent to convert rainforest to pasture. 1938 End of land clearing of the previously logged forest - forest trash burnt. 1939 Start of intensive soil and pasture management - soil not ploughed – aggressive pasture grasses sown into ash bed. 1940 Start of grazing- pasture for dairying. 1958 End of grazing planted pasture for dairying. Pastures infertile. All livestock removed. 1959 Start of land abandonment and minimal use. 1983 Commenced large scale spraying and poisoning and physical removal of Lantana. 1993 Regrowth rainforest (complex mesophyll vine forest) in gullies and on lower slopes - 50% of Lot 2. 1994 Continued large scale spraying and poisoning of Lantana and carpet grass. 2003 Site formally gazetted as Wooroonooran Nature Refuge by WTMA. 2011 Site continues to be manage for multiple values: timber reserve, biodiversity and habitat values.