“Did you see the pelicans on your way in?” asks Jacob Cassady, pointing to the dirt road that winds along Palm Creek, the lush waterway which feeds into the restored Mungalla wetlands that have been his life’s work. “They came three months ago. Before that, there was hardly any water flowing through that part of the creek. It was just back-to-back invasive species. There were no fish, no birds, nothing. It was a dead system.”  With his long grey beard and signature navy button-down shirt, topped with a battered Akubra hat, Cassady cuts a recognizable figure in the community of Ingham, a small farming town in north Queensland, Australia. Palm Creek feeds into the revived Mungalla wetlands. Credit: MaryLou Costa Not only is he the face of Mungalla, a cattle station turned Indigenous nature retreat located about seven miles from town, but he’s a senior member of the Nywaigi people, whose ancestral lands run through the 880-hectare property (nearly 3.5 square miles). And he plays a key role in helping his community reconnect with their land and their culture. Cassady has been a catalyst for change for Mungalla for decades. He facilitated the reacquisition of Mungalla by the Nywaigi in 1999, and since then, he has spearheaded the revitalization of its nearly-dead wetlands and weed-infested creek, an effort that has put the property on the tourist trail while also creating training and work opportunities for Indigenous youth. Several currently work on the property, while several hundred have done short-term live-in stays over the years to learn land management skills. Progress has been slow but sure. “We want to be able to clean out all these waterways so all the birds will come back,” Cassady says. “We used to have black swans down there. It was just an amazing place for bird life, but it was destroyed by bad farming practices.” Jacob Cassady, senior member of the Nywaigi people, has been a catalyst for change for Mungalla for decades. Courtesy of Greening Australia Those practices include the introduction of an invasive species, hymenachne, a plant native to Central and South America, as cattle grazing fodder. It quickly became overgrown, depleting the water’s oxygen supply and making it unlivable for fish and birds.  Moreover, a bund wall was built as a barrier to stop saltwater from the nearby Coral Sea, off Australia’s northeastern coast, from entering the wetlands and adjacent creek, with the goal of maintaining a freshwater source for the grazing cattle. But it only interfered with the natural tidal flow, damaging the wetlands and creek. Weighed down by negative news? Our smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you’ve been looking for. [contact-form-7] Both short-sighted decisions were made by the European settlers who took on Mungalla after Irishman James Cassady — from whom Jacob is a direct descendant — owned and ran the property in the late 1800s, causing nothing short of an environmental disaster.