Glen Russell Station

Glen Russell Station is a Savanna Fire Management project located approximately 33km west-north-west of Mareeba in Far North Queensland. Registered in July 2015, the project covers a substantial area of 27,558 hectares situated within the Mareeba Shire. The station is positioned in the transition zone between the wet tropics and the drier western savanna, lying roughly 95km west of Cairns.

The project operates under the Savanna Fire Management methodology, which involves strategic burning of savanna areas during the early dry season (EDS). By conducting planned, cool burns early in the year, the project aims to reduce fuel loads and prevent high-intensity, uncontrolled wildfires during the late dry season (LDS). This shift in burning regimes reduces the emission of potent greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide. Notably, this specific project covers both "high" and "low" rainfall zones, requiring distinct calculation variances for emissions abatement across the property.

The region is predominantly utilized for cattle grazing on native vegetation, a common land use in the Tablelands and Cape York peninsula. Environmentally, the area experiences a tropical savanna climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The soils in this locality, particularly around the Hodgkinson River catchment which rises in the south-west of the station, are typically characterized as gravelly loams, red earths, and skeletal soils derived from the region's complex metamorphic and granitic geology.

An interesting historical note is that the property is situated within the Hodgkinson Minerals Area, a region famous for gold rushes in the 1870s, and contains the site of the old Northcote township. Commercially, the project has undergone significant administrative changes; it was originally proponented by Country Carbon Pty Ltd before being transferred to Terra Carbon Pty Limited in May 2022. Additionally, a variation in 2021 saw the removal of certain land areas from the project's original scope.