For the first time, Australia's National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) has used new powers to stop the bulldozers at a cattle station in North Queensland.
This is not only a big milestone for Australia's nature protection laws, but also a huge win for our incredible Investigations team and crew of citizen scientists who participated in ACF Investigates.
Using satellite imagery as part of ACF Investigates, our team came across the bulldozing of more than 1,700 hectares of forest and woodland at the property at Wombinoo station. That's an area more than 1.5 times the size of Sydney Airport! We immediately alerted the national regulator about the potentially illegal bulldozing.
Wombinoo station is home to endangered koalas and greater gliders, and hosts waterways that are part of the Herbert River Catchment that runs into the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef.
The National EPA determined that any further bulldozing or even burning of already-felled trees at Wombinoo, could cause over 1,000 tonnes of fine sediment to flow onto and damage the Great Barrier Reef annually.
It was this that pushed the agency to issue its first ever "Environmental Protection Order", temporarily halting any further land clearing activities.
