Oriners & Sefton Savanna Burning Project

Oriners & Sefton Savanna Burning Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located on the Oriners and Sefton pastoral leases in the western Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, situated in the Mitchell River basin approximately 600km northwest of Cairns. Registered in January 2015, the project covers 306,090.79 hectares. The region historically operated as cattle stations, but the leases were purchased by the Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council in the 1990s as an investment for the community and are now primarily managed for conservation, natural resource management, and traditional cultural connection. The local environment features flooded forest country, wetlands, and savanna grasslands, categorised as a high rainfall zone. During the wet season, the area's soils become highly saturated and boggy, comprising alluvial soils, sandy loams, and clays typical of the region.

Savanna burning projects involve strategic, planned "cool" burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. By executing controlled burns while the vegetation still retains some moisture from the wet season, Traditional Owners and rangers reduce the risk of intense, destructive wildfires that typically occur later in the dry season when the land is parched. This methodology significantly reduces the emission of potent greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, while simultaneously stimulating new vegetation growth and improving overall ecosystem resilience.

The Oriners and Sefton project is uniquely run by the Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council alongside the Kowanyama Rangers, proudly serving as the second-largest carbon project on Cape York. The rangers effectively combine traditional patchwork burning knowledge with modern technology to manage the Country the "right way". Revenue generated from the sale of these Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) is reinvested into the community to fund local infrastructure, employment, and to facilitate the reconnection of the Kunjen people and other clan groups to their traditional lands. Notably, major corporate entities such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Rio Tinto, as well as the Melbourne Art Fair, have purchased credits from this project to support Indigenous land management and offset their own emissions.