A unique type of macadamia nut almost wiped out in bushfires five years ago is coming back from the edge of extinction. With fewer than 200 native species left in the wild, researchers, environmentalists, and First Nations people in central Queensland are working to protect the plants.
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00:00These rare saplings have been carefully cultivated.
00:06We've taken cuttings from the wild population to represent the genetic variation in the
00:12wild population and we're trying to replicate that here.
00:17Dozens of Macadamia jensenii plants are being planted at an Indigenous-owned property called
00:24Thornhill Station near Miriam Vale.
00:27The species is endangered and only found within Bulburrin National Park.
00:33Researchers realised just how vulnerable the population was after bushfires burned more
00:39than 7,000 hectares of the park in late 2019.
00:44It's a real concern for us that it's not found anywhere else and that it's been impacted
00:50heavily by fires in the past.
00:53While the species can't be harvested because of its poisonous properties...
00:58It does tend to be bitter.
01:00It's because macadamia produces a cyanide product.
01:05It needs to be safeguarded for environmental purposes.
01:09Even just to help our ecosystem to come back to the way it used to be, we know it doesn't
01:16happen overnight.
01:17At least we can start by planting it slowly just to help it for the future.
01:22Botanic gardens, like the ones here in Bundaberg, help to propagate back-up populations of
01:29endangered species.
01:31Being able to connect with First Nations people on country and enable this conservation work
01:36is just a really fulfilling thing for all of us involved in this.