Yarraden Station

Yarraden Station is a savanna fire management project located approximately two hours west of Musgrave and Coen on the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland. It was registered in December 2014 and covers an extensive area of 118,807.65 hectares.

Savanna fire management projects involve the strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season to reduce the risk of late dry season wildfires. By conducting cooler, controlled burns early in the year, proponents reduce fuel loads and avoid the significantly larger greenhouse gas emissions that are associated with intense, late-season wild fires.

The Cape York area is widely known for large-scale beef cattle breeding operations. The region experiences a tropical monsoonal climate characterized by a high-rainfall wet season followed by a prolonged dry season, and the local soils are generally lower-fertility sandy and clay loams.

Yarraden Station itself is a historic cattle breeding property with a carrying capacity of roughly 8,000 head, and was historically run as part of a vertically integrated beef operation alongside the neighboring Holroyd River Station. The carbon project has seen several management changes, with the proponent varying from Country Carbon Pty Ltd to Terra Carbon Pty Limited in 2022, and subsequently to Umlilo Holdings Pty Ltd as trustee for the CC Stage 3 Agricultural Trust in 2023. Public records note that the Clean Energy Regulator accepted an Enforceable Undertaking from the original project manager, Country Carbon, in May 2020. Additionally, the property lies in a region steeped in history, located near the abandoned gold mining town of Ebagoola.