General News
19 October, 2022
New nature refuges for FNQ
TWO parcels of land in Queensland’s far north, equal to 4,000 Suncorp Stadiums, will be added to the state’s protected area network in an agreement between the Palaszczuk Government and South Endeavour Trust.
On October 7, Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon announced new nature refuges, the Mount Gibson Nature Refuge and the Oakey Scrub Nature Refuge, which would be established southwest of Cooktown.
Nature refuges are a class of private protected areas under the state’s Nature Conservation Act and are administered by a legally binding conservation agreement between a landholder and the government.
“Queenslanders have made it clear: they want us to continue to protect our environment and grow our protected area estate,” Minister Scanlon said.
“This new agreement does just that, building on the record $262 million we announced in the budget to create new national parks.”
The proposed Mount Gibson Nature Refuge is on Mount Gibson Station, a property of exceptional conservation significance acquired by South Endeavour Trust with the generous financial support of The Wyss Foundation (a private US charitable foundation) in late 2021.
“The property contains more than 34,000 hectares of remnant vegetation comprising a diversity of vegetation communities across 29 regional ecosystems,” Minister Scanlon said.
“These include four ecosystems with an ‘endangered’ biodiversity status and two with no current representation in protected areas in Queensland.”
Local Member for Cook Cynthia Lui said the property supports habitat for a range of threatened species, including the endangered spotted-tailed quoll (northern subspecies), northern quoll, ghost bat, Semon’s leaf-nosed bat and the Cooktown orchid.
It is also highly likely to support the vulnerable northern greater glider and the wet tropics sub-species of the yellowbellied glider.
Ms Lui said the proposed Oakey Scrub Nature Refuge was approximately 11 kilometres southwest of Cooktown and covered some 64.7 hectares.
“It contains a complex mosaic of vegetation types described across six regional ecosystems,” she said.
“We’re seeing a connected area that’ll be preserved for our environment and protected for generations to come.”
South Endeavour Trust Director Tim Hughes said the new nature refuges would provide connectivity with several other protected areas in the region.
“The Mount Gibson Nature Refuge connects with the adjoining Mount Windsor National Park; the Springvale Station Nature Refuge; the nearby Ngalba Bulal National Park, Daintree National Park and the Kings Plains-Alkoomie and Caloola Nature Refuges, which South Endeavour Trust also owns,” Mr Hughes said.
“The Oakey Scrub Nature Refuge provides additional landscape-scale connectivity with the nearby Annan River (Yuku Baja-Muliku) National Park.
“We purchased these lands not only for the ecosystems they include but also for their strategic location providing valuable connectivity between lands already listed as protected in Queensland.”
The state’s nature refuges, which will number 555 when the new refuges are declared, cover more than 4.4 million ha – almost a third of Queensland’s protected area system, which totals 14.2 million ha or 8.2% of the state’s total land area.
