In Australia, a former cattle station larger than Yosemite National Park has gained protected status after being purchased by the Queensland government. The government made the purchase after receiving an anonymous donation of $21 million, the Guardian reported.
Australia's Nature Conservancy, which brokered the deal, said the donation constituted the single largest contribution to land protection in Australian history. The land that was acquired, known as Vergemont station, covers nearly 870,000 acres (even larger than Yosemite's 748,000 acres).
It will join with existing national parks to create a conservation corridor totaling around 3.46 million acres.
"We really do hope this inspires other philanthropists to join with government … to protect more really important properties like this around the country," said Dr. James Fitzsimons, the Nature Conservancy's senior adviser for global protection.
The newly established national park will be a boon for all local wildlife, but it will be especially crucial for the endangered night parrot and the vulnerable yellow-footed rock-wallaby, Dr. Fitzsimons said.
Before the land is fully converted, the former landowner will be given two years to remove his cattle from the property.
The Queensland government has also committed to working with the Maiawali, an indigenous Australian people native to Queensland, to undertake cultural heritage assessments on the property.
It is also important to note that although the majority of the land will be protected, just under 100,000 acres (around 11%) of it will remain as opal mining territory. Queensland environment minister Leanne Linard described the decision by saying, "We will allow small-scale opal mining interests to continue their operations on suitable areas."
If you happen to have tens of millions of spare dollars that you would like to put toward the maximum possible environmental impact, donating large swaths of land to be turned into national parks is a great way to go. One wealthy couple famously spent over $345 million on land in South America that they subsequently returned to the Chilean and Argentinian public, describing their decision as "a kind of capitalist jujitsu move."
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