Land cover change and its environmental significance in the Herbert River catchment, north-east Queensland

There has been considerable recent concern over the amount of vegetation clearance in the wet tropics of northern Australia. This paper reports on the results of a case study undertaken in the lower Herbert River catchment in north-east Queensland, which utilised remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess both spatial and temporal changes in land cover since European settlement in the mid-nineteenth century. We demonstrate that since European settlement there has been a substantial reduction in the area of Melaleuca, rainforest, and eucalyptus-dominated land-cover patterns. We also provide a range of quantitative measures to show that the landscape diversity, integrity and quality of these ecosystems have also declined between the 1860s and 1996. We conclude that reform is required at policy, planning and enterprise levels if the ecological, economic and social values of these systems are to be maintained in the future.