What is a king tide and why do they occur? What impact do they have on our beaches? What is our development of a built environment doing to our coastal dunes?

For answers to these questions, and more information about how coastal processes work to preserve and replenish the coastal zone, check out the information on our Issues page – here.

Throughout 2012, Queensland Parks and Wildlife will be working on the protection of the water mouse population found along the Maroochy River. This will involve activities to locate active water mouse nests, monitoring these populations, and protecting their habitat, in target areas along the tidal areas of the river. To do this, they will be looking for volunteers to help out.

Some information about the endangered water mouse can be found here.

We will keep you updated about opportunities to help out! Watch your emails – if you don’t get our emails, join us and join our email list!

There are only a few calendars remaining. If you are a member and you haven’t collected your free copy, or if you have realised that one simply isn’t enough, get in touch with Stephanie (info@coolumcoastcare.org.au or 0412 904 216) as soon as possible. Don’t miss out!

Earlier this year, we held the Clean Waves and Fragile Dunes Community Photo Competition. We received many amazing photographs of our local environment. View the winning photos here!

A team of our volunteers has been working hard to pick and choose a selection of the entered photos – bringing them together into a beautiful calendar. An idea for Christmas gifts perhaps?

The calendar is now available for $10 from the following locations:

Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will support our work in the protection of our local coastal flora and fauna.

Listen to one of our members, Edwin, talking to Karyn Wood at ABC Sunshine Coast, about our work, and about our beautiful calendar here!

Most of our weeding groups start and finish earlier during the summer – to take advantage of the cooler mornings.

Yinneburra weeding group
Now that it is really warming up, we will start at 7:30am on Thursdays.

Stumers Dunes Bush Regeneration
From 20 October, we will be working our ‘summer hours’ – starting at 7:30am until 10:30am on Thursdays.

Our current worksite is just in from the edge of the dunes, about 100m north of Access 72. There may be one of the new ‘regeneration’ signs there, if it hasn’t been souvenired. Mostly corky passion vine.

Lions Park ‘Watercourse Warriors’
Every Monday – 8.00-11.00am and Thursdays 8.30am-11.00am.

Marcoola Coast Care
Thursdays hours have changed for summer – 7:30-9:30am.

Myrtle Rust is a serious fungal disease that affects plants in the Myrtaceae family, including plants such as bottle brush, eucalyptus, and tea trees. It infects new growth, and can kill the host plant. Myrtle Rust has been found in a number of locations in South East Queensland – nurseries, public parkland, revegetation sites, and private residences.

Because of the serious implications for our natural environment, the disease is notifiable. If you suspect a case of Myrtle Rust in any location, including your property, please call Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23 or the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.

Here is a link to the DPI website, for more information on what to look out for, including photos.

Ever wondered what the Coolum area coral reefs look like? To learn about recent research on the coral reefs of the Sunshine Coast and see some stunning photography visit the NICA website. The page contains some articles and short films about the state of our local reefs. The are excellent educational material, and well worth viewing.