Mt Walsh National Park just got a whole lot bigger.

 

Mt Walsh National Park has grown by 3392 hectares over the weekend, as the Queensland State Government bought and added seven freehold land parcels to the national park, an hour from Maryborough in the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland. 

Environment Minister, Leanne Enoch has said that this new addition takes Queensland’s national park estate to roughly the same size as Tassie. That’s around 68,400 square km, wild!

The land is home to heaps of rare native plants and has the potential to be a home for vulnerable fauna species too, including koalas. 

On top of this, a new 18,000 hectare nature refuge has been added to the 525 refuges Queensland already has across the state.

The Caloola Nature Refuge has around 20km of Annan River frontage and is habitat to eight plant and ten animal species threatened by extinction. 

‘The refuge features magnificent rocky hills and ranges, and forms two landscape corridors of state significance that provide habitat for wildlife movement between protected areas,’ Ms Enoch said.

The Caloola refuge joins up with other neighbouring nature refuges, as well as Annan River (Yuku Baja-Muliku) and Black Mountain National Parks, to create a huge interconnected protected area. 

Ms Enoch has said there’s an additional $9.5 million allocated to buying land for protection across southern Queensland. Woohoo!

Feature photo courtesy of Tourism & Events Queensland