State buys new park
Queensland will soon be home to a new national park, after the Queensland Government bought 35,300ha of “unique ecosystems” near Townsville.
Queensland Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon announced the state government had purchased ‘The Lakes’ - an area about 100km north of Hughenden, west of Townsville.
While the final price for the land is commercial-in-confidence, $1.829 million of the multi-million dollar purchase was provided by US charitable company The Wyss Foundation.
The property on the Gudjala First Nations peoples' traditional country is considered a hotspot for biodiversity, hosting a range of ecosystems, rare and threatened species.
“There's a whole range of threatened species in that area,” Ms Scanlon said.
“It's actually between two existing national parks, which allows for that continuity of protection, which is really critical.”
The taxpayers' money came from the Palaszczuk government's $60 million Protected Area Strategy 2020-2030.
The government says it will consider opening the park to visitors, bird watchers and hikers.
It is also undertaking buy-outs of other properties in the region later in the year.