Third-generation property owners Barry and Tammy Hughes run North Head station in North Queensland. They have dedicated more than 18,000 hectares on their 76,000 hectare property as a nature refuge.
Barry explains why the program is so important.
"For us, getting the nature refuge on our property has been a big achievement.
But as you can imagine, important work like managing weeds, feral animals or simply maintaining fences to keep stock away from sensitive areas is a huge and costly job on an Outback nature refuge.
After signing up to the program, Tammy and I were initially able to access some modest funding that helped us improve management at North Head.
However, since that first round, there’s been no more funding made available - leaving us limited in what we can achieve for conservation."
With over 500 landholders managing 4.4 million hectares, the Nature Refuges program is an important part of the solution to Queensland’s extinction crisis.
But, landholders like Barry and Tammy can’t be left to do all the work.
Add your name to call on the Government to better support nature refuge landholders to care for their land and the threatened and endangered wildlife that call it home.