Oriners & Sefton Savanna Burning Project

Oriners & Sefton Savanna Burning Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located on the Oriners and Sefton pastoral stations in the central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. The project area covers approximately 306,090 hectares and sits roughly 80km east of the remote township of Kowanyama.

Registered in January 2015, the project operates under the Savanna Fire Management 2015 methodology. This involves strategic "early dry season" burning, deliberately igniting cool, mosaic fires when vegetation still holds moisture. This practice reduces the fuel load that would otherwise feed intense, uncontrolled wildfires in the late dry season, thereby avoiding significant emissions of methane and nitrous oxide.

The region is characterized by a tropical savanna climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. It falls within the high rainfall zone (typically receiving over 1,000mm annually), which leads to significant vegetation growth that cures into fuel. The landscape features a mix of open woodlands, wetlands, and lagoons, with soils that often become boggy and saturated during the monsoon, likely comprising alluvial clays in floodplains and sandy or lateritic soils on higher ground.

The Oriners and Sefton properties were purchased by the Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council in the early 1990s to return Traditional Owners to Country. While originally pastoral leases for cattle grazing, the land is now primarily managed for conservation and cultural outcomes. The project generates revenue that supports the Kowanyama Rangers and funds local community services, while also protecting cultural sites and biodiversity from destructive wildfires.