A Nature Guide's -
Guide to the Wet Tropics
The Mount Spurgeon National Park is located within the delineation of Windsor Wilderness Area. It has been identified as a ‘premium wilderness area’ and the most outstanding and most important wilderness in the area. The area is of national and international significance.
Gazetted roads cross the park. Four-wheel-drive clubs, horse riders and trail bikers use these roads; and may seek to use Mount Spurgeon National Park. Potential exists for the establishment of long distance walks in the area, which include Mount Spurgeon National Park. Dieback Phytophthora cinnamomi, a fungal disease that thrives in wet soil and poses a significant threat to many plant species, is present on the park; and needs to be factored into any decisions made.
The Landscape
Mount Spurgeon National Park is located on the Mount Carbine Tableland, entirely above 1,000m. The primary landscape features on the park are Mount Spurgeon 1,322m, Roots Mount 1,331m and Mount Misery 1,246m. The drainage features that originate on the park include Spurgeon Creek, Cow Creek and Reedy Creek—all of which join the McLeod River.
At around 900m altitude, forests harvest water directly from clouds, fog, mist and rain. They are believed to be of great importance to the maintenance of stream flows throughout the dry season. Cloud forests only cover a small area of the Wet Tropics but are of worldwide ecological importance. If the altitude of the cloud base rose in the Wet Tropics, this would result in a predicted loss of about 75% (70,000ha) of Queensland’s cloud forests.
The geology of the area consists almost entirely of coarse biotite granite. Up to the time of World Heritage listing, the area surrounding Mount Spurgeon had been mined for tin. This activity was confined to minor alluvial workings, mostly along Sandy Creek.Mount Spurgeon National Park conserves old mining relics including a significant mining race and tin-miner's hut.
Native plants and animals
Mount Spurgeon National Park is known to protect plant and animal species of conservation significance Bird species recorded in international agreements are listed in .
The near threatened Mount Spurgeon black pine Prumnopitys ladei, is advertised widely as nursery stock for hedging.
The only currently known population of the endangered little waterfall frog Litoria lorica is in Mount Lewis National Park, which is downstream of and in the immediate vicinity of Mount Spurgeon National Park.
Accipiter novaehollandiae grey goshawk Near threatened
Bettongia tropica northern bettong Endangered
Cophixalus aenigma tapping nurseryfrog Near threatened
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Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana Macleay's fig-parrot Vulnerable
Dasyurus maculatus gracilis spotted-tailed quoll Endangered
Hipposideros diadema reginae diadem leaf-nosed bat Near threatened
Kerivoula papuensis golden-tipped bat Near threatened
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Litoria nannotis waterfall frog Endangered
Litoria rheocola common mistfrog Endangered
Litoria serrata tapping green eyed frog Near threatened
Murina florium tube-nosed insectivorous bat Vulnerable
Nyctimystes dayi Australian lacelid Endangered
Petaurus australis yellow-bellied glider Vulnerable
Pseudochirulus cinereus Daintree River ringtail possum Near threatened
Taudactylus acutirostris sharp snouted dayfrog Endangered
Taudactylus rheophilus northern tinkerfrog Endangered
Reference:
Mount Spurgeon National Park Management Statement 2013 Dept. NPRSR Qld. Gov. 2013
