Artemis Station

Artemis Station is a Savanna Fire Management project located on a working cattle station in the central southern portion of the Cape York Peninsula, approximately 23km south of Musgrave Roadhouse and 96km north of Laura in Queensland. It was registered in August 2014 and covers an extensive area of 124,668.71 hectares.

Savanna Fire Management projects involve the strategic and planned burning of savanna woodlands during the early dry season. This practice reduces the risk, intensity, and frequency of hot, late dry season wildfires, which in turn reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere. In January 2017, the project varied its method to align with the newer 2015 Methodology Determination for emissions abatement, and in June 2023, the primary participant name was updated from Country Carbon Pty Ltd to Susan Shephard.

The central Cape York region experiences a wet and dry tropical climate and falls within a high rainfall zone. The surrounding environment is dominated by expansive tropical savanna woodlands and native grasses, while the soils generally consist of sandy to clayey sand mixtures. The landscape is famously dotted with large termite mounds. The primary land use in this remote region is pastoralism, specifically beef cattle grazing.

Beyond carbon abatement and cattle farming, Artemis Station is globally recognized for its critical conservation efforts. The property, owned by the Shephard family, covers the core remaining range of the highly endangered and endemic Golden-shouldered Parrot. Project proponent Susan Shephard has been heavily involved in integrating carbon farming with species recovery; the controlled early burns not only generate carbon credits but also reduce woody weed encroachment. This habitat restoration clears the vegetation around termite mounds (where the parrots nest), removing the protective cover used by nest predators such as butcherbirds, which actively boosts the survival rate of the parrots.