Maitland Downs

Maitland Downs is a Savanna Fire Management project located at Maitland Downs Station, approximately 35km south of Lakeland and 130km northwest of Mareeba in Far North Queensland. Registered in January 2018, the project operates across a substantial area of 69,774 hectares. The property sits within the Cape York Peninsula region, an area predominantly utilized for extensive cattle grazing and breeding operations, characterized by rugged terrain and native woodlands.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Savanna Fire Management) Methodology Determination 2015. This methodology generates carbon credits by shifting the fire regime from late dry season (LDS) wildfires, which burn intensely and release significant greenhouse gases, to planned, cooler burns in the early dry season (EDS). By strategically igniting fires when vegetation is still moist, the project proponents create firebreaks that limit the spread of uncontrolled wildfires later in the year, thereby reducing overall emissions of methane and nitrous oxide.

Environmentally, the project area straddles the transition zone between the tropical high rainfall belt (>1000mm annually) and the semi-arid low rainfall interior (600-1000mm). This dual-zone classification allows the project to claim abatement across both distinct rainfall categories defined by the methodology. The landscape features the wet-dry tropical savanna climate typical of the Mitchell River catchment, with soils likely ranging from sandy loams on ridges to heavier alluvial clays in valley floors.

An interesting corporate detail is that the proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, is a subsidiary of GreenCollar, one of Australia's largest environmental markets investors. The project has undergone administrative variations, including a boundary adjustment in 2019 that removed specific areas from the project scope, likely to align with station fencing or landholder management preferences.