Queensland's Protected Area Strategy 2021 Report Card
The Queensland Government is reporting annually on our progress in implementing Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy 2020–2030.
The first report, Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy 2021 Report Card outlines what has been achieved in the first 12 months and provides baselines for the measures that will be used to track progress over the coming years.
Key achievements for 2020–21 include:
- Increasing the size of Queensland’s national parks and other public protected areas with additions in north Queensland and the Wide Bay region to protect endangered species, important wetlands and the most significant loggerhead and flatback turtle nesting and rookery sites in eastern Australia.
- Declaring eight new nature refuges and Queensland’s first Special Wildlife Reserve.
- Enabling First Nations people’s co-stewardship, including announcing 54 new ranger positions across 13 communities as part of the commitment to double the number of Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers over the next three years; and supporting 12 First Nations partner organisations to deliver outcomes for Country through the Looking after Country grant program.
- Supporting protection and recovery of threatened species, including the bilby, northern bettong, northern hairy-nosed wombats, Nangur spiny skink, and the Capricorn chat.
- Continuing to enhance fire management and risk mitigation, including developing a Fire Management Strategy to guide fire management, and a Bushfire Risk Management Framework to better identify, assess and treat bushfire risks to Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service managed land and our neighbours.
- Delivering world-class visitor experiences by completing more than 250 infrastructure projects across national parks in Queensland, including the new 30-kilometre Ngaro Trail on Whitsunday Island.
- Increasing community engagement with national parks and conservation through new education spaces and programs at David Fleay Wildlife Park, Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre and Daisy Hill Koala Education Centre in Brisbane.