Reef. Heron Island Research Station The University of Queensland Heron Island Research Station is situated in the island's south-west quarter. Established in the 1950s by the Great Barrier Reef Committee with the University of Queensland becoming a partner in its operations in 1970, the facility is one of the world's principal coral reef research stations, with a wide variety of research undertaken on coral reef ecology. Heron Island Research Station suffered a large fire on Friday, 30 March 2007. No one was injured. In June 2008 the new student accommodation, comprising 80 beds, was officially opened and used for the first time by Tropical Marine Network students . The teaching laboratories and new research building with 9 research labs, library, darkroom, computer room and aquaria deck were officially reopened in February 2009. In 2010, a state of the art climate change experimental facility was opened at the Research Station. Sir David Attenborough and Atlantic Productions filmed segments for the documentary, David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef, at Heron Island Research Station in late 2014. National Park The eastern half of the island is protected and forms part of the Capricornia Cays National Park, with a permanent ranger's station onsite. Harbour There is a small man-made channel and wooden jetty on the western shore of the island, where the daily catamaran launch from Gladstone docks and supplies to the island are delivered. The rusted wreck of HMCS Protector lies at the entrance to the channel, and was towed to there in 1945 to form a breakwater for visiting vessels. Utilities The island has no fresh water supply. A small desalination plant on the island uses reverse osmosis technology to supply water for human consumption. Similarly, three diesel generators (and some solar panels) supply electricity to the island. Ecology Heron Island has notably rich soil for a tropical coral cay, particularly in the dense southern forest. This is due to the presence of tens of thousands of wedge-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica) during breeding season. These birds disturb the humus as they dig their nesting burrows, and thus prevent the formation of Jemo soil, a phosphatic hardpan topped off by raw humus. The hardpan is formed by leaching of surface- or tree-nesting seabirds' guano in the absence of burrowing animals. Flora Rich forests of Pisonia grandis dominate the centre and south of Heron Island. Towards the eastern and north-western ends, the forest is readily