York Downs Station

York Downs Station is a Savanna Fire Management project located at the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, roughly 60km east of Weipa. It was registered in July 2015 and covers an extensive area of 129,384 hectares.

Savanna fire management projects involve the strategic, planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season to create mosaic firebreaks and reduce dry fuel loads. This shifting of fire timing mitigates the risk of massive, intense, and highly destructive wildfires in the late dry season, thereby significantly reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The broader Cape York region is well-known for large-scale cattle grazing and bauxite mining operations. The project is situated in a high-rainfall savanna climate, where the typical soils consist of sandy earth and bauxite laterites.

The station is managed by the Witherspoon family, who run a herd of Brahman cattle. Since implementing these improved fire management practices, they have been able to better protect their pastures and infrastructure from uncontrollable blazes. The additional income from the carbon project has allowed them to upgrade machinery, such as a grader used for forming firebreaks, and the family has observed a healthy rebound in native fauna, including echidnas and wallabies. Administratively, the project transitioned to the 2015 Methodology Determination in February 2017, and the proponent role was officially transferred from Country Carbon Pty Ltd to Terra Carbon Pty Limited in September 2023. The Clean Energy Regulator also noted an Enforceable Undertaking from Country Carbon earlier in May 2020.