That will take much work on our part but at least the threat of Los Angeles style car-based sprawl has been averted. The purchase also creates the opportunity for the eastern Inlet to become a significant cultural and recreational precinct. The land is adjacent to aboriginal communities at Bessie Point and Yarrabah, and they are keen to show off their long cultural traditions with the surrounding coasts and estuaries. At any given time there are probably 10,000 tourists in Cairns looking for these sort of cultural experiences that would be just a short ferry ride away. The purchase will not be without problems.
East Trinity is the site of the worst acid sulphate soil pollution in Australia.
Ha of the parcel was once Inlet mangroves and salt pans cleared in 1972 in a failed attempt to grow sugar cane. To keep the salt water out a rock wall was constructed around the entire site. However, all this did was allow the water table to fall and expose acid producing chemicals in the soil profile to the air. Each year thousands of litres of sulfuric acid leaches out of the worst affected area of the site - about 200 HA around Firewood Creek. Another recent pollution discovery has been the extent to CO2 pollution from acid sulphate areas.