Queensland
In Queensland, the Statewide Landcover and Tree Study (SLATS) annually monitors woody vegetation extent and its change due to anthropogenic land clearing and new regrowth. In 2018, Queensland had around 96,575,900ha of woody vegetation, 56% of the state’s land area. Approximately 9% (~8.6 million ha) of this woody vegetation was existing regrowth or non-native woody vegetation. The remaining 91% was either remnant or high-value regrowth woody vegetation.
By 2022, about 95,218,300ha of woody vegetation remained, 55% of the state’s land area. Between 2018 and 2022, land-clearing activities impacted approximately 2% (1,772,500ha) of woody vegetation, with 1,479,900ha of this resulting in full removal of the woody vegetation. The remainder was partially cleared. Of the total area impacted by clearing activity, 24% (433,100ha) was in regulated remnant vegetation. Regrowth added about 133,300ha of new woody vegetation to the state’s woody extent.
Statewide clearing activity
Between 2018 and 2022, approximately 1,772,400ha of Queensland’s woody vegetation was impacted by clearing activity, as follows:
- 2018-2019: 680,700ha (38% of the state’s total clearing figures from 2018 to 2022)
- 2019-2020: 418,700ha (24%)
- 2020-2021: 349,400ha (20%)
- 2021-2022: 323,700ha (18%)
Total clearing activity figures include both full and partial clearing events.
Of the state’s total clearing activity between 2018 and 2022:
- Around 84% (1,490,900ha) was mapped as full clearing, and it was removed from the woody extent map.
- The remaining 16% of clearing activity resulted in partial clearing, i.e., there was some removal of the woody vegetation due to clearing activity, however, more than 10% of the crown cover remained. This was not removed from the woody extent map.
- Consequently, there was a loss of almost 2% (1,490,900ha) of the state’s woody vegetation between 2018 and 2022 due to clearing activity.
Spatial Distribution of clearing map
© Queensland Government
Vegetation management class
Of the state’s total clearing between 2018 and 2022, about 24% occurred in the regulated extent of a regional ecosystem:
- 20% (357,100ha) of the clearing was in areas that contained no concern at present regional ecosystems,
- 3% (60,800ha) of the clearing was in areas identified as having of concern regional ecosystems,
- less than 1% (15,200ha) of the clearing was in areas which have endangered regional ecosystems present.
The remaining 76% (1,339,400ha) was in areas with no vegetation management class.
Bioregions
In the state’s 13 bioregions, most clearing occurred in the Brigalow Belt and Mulga Lands bioregions between 2018 and 2022. These two bioregions accounted for 77% (1,364,100ha) of the state’s total clearing activity.
Landcover replacement classes
Around 94% (1,659,200ha) of the clearing activity mapped between 2018 and 2022 was for land management and infrastructure associated with livestock production (referred to as Pasture in figures).
Other replacement classes identified, which accounted for the remaining clearing activity, were:
- 3% (53,400ha) for forestry practices,
- 1% (23,700ha) for mining-related development,
- 1% (21,300ha) for cropping,
- less than 1% (8,500ha) for infrastructure development, less than 1% (4,400ha) for settlement-related development.
Statewide regrowth
Between 2019 and 2022, about 133,300ha of new regrowth was mapped.
This regrowth is in addition to existing regrowth that was included in the 2018 woody vegetation extent baseline for the state. Regrowth monitoring commenced in the SLATS 2019-2020 period. Regrowth mapping has been included in SLATS reporting since.
Of the total 133,300ha of regrowth mapped between 2019 and 2022, the following areas were mapped annually:
- 2019-2020: 42,600ha (32%)
- 2020-2021: 59,700ha (45%)
- 2021-2022: 31,100ha (23%)
Bioregions
Most of the regrowth mapped between 2019 and 2022 occurred within four of Queensland’s 13 bioregions:
- Brigalow Belt: 32% (42,400ha)
- Southeast Queensland: 22% (29,900ha)
- Desert Uplands: 17% (22,000ha)
- Mulga Lands: 11% (14,200ha)
Landcover classes
Around 70% or approximately 93,800ha of the regrowth mapped between 2019 and 2022 was in areas used for agricultural production, particularly livestock production (referred to as Pasture in figures).
Other areas where regrowth was mapped include:
- 22% (29,400ha) in forestry areas,
- 5% (7,300ha) in cropping areas,
- 2% (2,700ha) in mining-related areas.
The remaining 1% (100ha) of regrowth was in areas of settlement and infrastructure development.
Disclaimer
There may be minor discrepancies between reported figures and associated open data. For additional information, please refer to the most recent SLATS reports.
This indicator presents a range of data summaries that analyse the clearing activity and regrowth data at a statewide and bioregion level. The stated clearing and regrowth figures in this indicator are rounded to the nearest hundred hectares. All partial clearing figures in this indicator refer to the sum of both major and minor partial clearing events. All percentages in this indicator are rounded to the nearest whole number.
This indicator also provides an indication of the purpose for which the vegetation was cleared (in the case of clearing activity) and an induction of the land use (in the case of regrowth), referred to as the landcover replacement class. See Glossary for more details.
