Australian Geographic - 09.2019 - 10.2019

84 Australian Geographic

PHOTO CREDITS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: KERRY TRAPNELL / THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY; AUSCAPE/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY; AUSCAPE/IUG/GETTY; AUSCA

PE/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Bettongia penicillata

Thousands of hectares of remnant

eucalypt forest were bulldozed

in 2015 on Olive Vale station,

Queensland, to create fields for

crops to feed livestock.

.

Clearing of box gum grassy woodlands, like this one in south-

eastern Australia, was done on a widespread basis during the

19th and 20th centuries to make way for grazing lifestock.

Revegetation (top) has been one response to land clearing.

Medium-sized mammals, such as bettongs (above), are

important ‘ecological engineers’ that disappear along with forests.

FACT

Seventy-three per cent

of land clearing in

Queensland is linked

to beef

production.