Land Use
The higher parts of the catchment are still for the most part heavily timbered mainly with Eucalypt forest communities, but with some patches of rainforest in the better watered and more fertile areas. Most of the rainforest has been cleared by earlier settlers for crops and pasture production. “Smith’s Rainforest Nature Refuge” – a vine scrub, is the largest remnant Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) area remaining in the Brisbane area.
Graziers were the first settlers in the district in the 1840’s and were followed by timber cutters. By the turn of the century, much of the catchment had been cleared for cropping or pasture production. Dairying was prominent in the late 1800’s particularly in the Gold Creek sub-catchment, and by 1913 pineapple and banana plantations existed along Gold and Upper Moggill Creeks.
In the 1970’s land use change became obvious with the encroachment of urbanisation; since then there has been a marked decline in agricultural land use to the extent that there is currently (2013) a very small proportion of the catchment producing crops or grazing stock. Rural residential activities have expanded (>40%) and pressure for smaller sub-division has increased. The next biggest land use is Brisbane Forest Park. The urban areas (Urban Footprint) are the next largest land use and include parts of Kenmore and Kenmore Hills. Most of the fully-cleared areas in the catchment are used as horse paddocks or lawns on rural residential properties.
Lucy Eykamp (2000) “A Preliminary Study of Land Use Impacts on the Water Quality of Moggill Creek Catchment” Honours Thesis
