Roll up, one and all, because NSW just got itself another massive National Park and yes, this is very good news.
The NSW government has just acquired a whole lot of what was once privately-owned grazing station land, called 'Comeroo', in Outback NSW, and they’re turning 37,000 hectares into a protected zone for endangered eco-systems and critically threatened species in NSW. It’s a big yes from us.
This area is super important, with one-quarter of the park being home to the ‘Yantabulla Swamp’, a huge wetland that’s home to 50,000 native waterbirds, as well as a huge variety of internationally protected migratory shorebirds. On top of being a bird haven, it's also home to some very vulnerable ecological systems, including critically endangered artesian springs, the Coolibah-Blackbox woodland and Brigalow-Gidgee woodland. It will also help permanently protect and revive 13 threatened animal species, with the brolga, pink cockatoo, ringed brown snake and little eagle all getting their own place to (hopefully) come back from the brink of extinction.
“Wetlands are some of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet, which is why this acquisition is so important,” said the NSW minister for the environment, Penny Sharpe.
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Located on the Paroo and Warrego River country of the Budjiti, Kunja, Gurnu Baarkandji and Muruwari People, this remote stretch of land near Bourke is home to numerous Indigenous sacred and cultural sites. It was also once divided into three large grazing stations, but now, the NSW government (in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy) has acquired it for conservation, with authorities saying that they will be working closely with local Indigenous communities to create a fresh future for this vital piece of land.
This new park is set to join the recently acquired Brindingabba National Park and properties Yantabulla and Naree, creating a hefty 100,000 hectares of protected land that’s solely dedicated to conservation in Outback NSW, making this NSW’s third-biggest national park ever – to put it into perspective, it’s bigger than Yosemite.
This new park is yet to get named, but we’re told it'll get a name and we'll get to visit in 2024.