What: Prairie Wind Farm is a vast 116 turbine wind farm 40km northeast from Hughenden, North Queensland. The vast development will fragment habitat across a whopping 34,500 ha area.

When was it approved? It was approved by Minister Plibersek on 9th January 2025.

Why it's a bad development: Prairie wind farm is home to genomically important Endangered Northern Koalas. They are confirmed to inhabit the site. The complex will destroy over 920 ha of their habitat.

Why are the Prairie Koalas so important? Koalas that inhabit the western edges of their range in North Queensland, such as those existing on the site of Prairie wind farm, are among the most genomically important populations in Australia. A recent study details the importance of genetic diversity in Koala populations when considering how to best conserve the species[i].

Northern Koalas are Australia’s most genetically diverse, so efforts to conserve their habitat are profoundly important – these koalas may hold the key to the survival of the species[ii].

Cryptic Northern Koalas are little known. How the noises of an industrial-scale wind development could impact them is concerning.

Koala populations such as those found around Prairie wind farm generally exist at low-density levels. These koalas are known to roam far and wide during mating season. It’s an unknown how wind turbine noise will impact their behaviour. It may potentially mask their mating calls or repel them from the vicinity entirely due to the low decibel sound of wind turbines spinning.

So not only will koalas at Prairie wind farm site lose their dispersal habitat and feeding trees, but they may also be driven away from the area completely due to the wind farm noise footprint. With so many wind farms destined for koala habitat in Queensland, we are extremely concerned about the unintended negative impacts on wild living koala populations.

Other threatened species live at Prairie wind farm site too:

The project will also oversee the annihilation of Vulnerable Squatter Pigeon habitat, Endangered Greater Glider habitat and Vulnerable Grey Falcon habitat to destroy:

· 787.1 ha of squatter pigeon (southern) breeding habitat

· 1,053.8ha of squatter pigeon (southern) foraging and dispersal habitat

·  3 ha of grey falcon breeding/roosting habitat

·  1,103.9 ha of grey falcon foraging habitat

How will the wind farm damage the Prairie landscape, impacting wildlife?

A network of towering wind turbines be forced into the gground. A extensive network of roads must be carved into the land: 124 km of access roads, 21 km of smaller vehicle access roads and a further 22 km of access roads for the transmission easement will be required. Proposed access corridors will be 40 m in width.

Explosives are often used to blast and bench turbines footings and roads. Heavy vehicles can leak oil, petrol and deisel into the ground and waterways.

New roads impact a landscape badly. New roads create edge effects, introduce weeds and allow feral species easy access, placing vulnerable species at risk. Land is fragmented and degraded and dried out by roads.

Familiar corridors of connectivity for wildlife are destroyed. Important habitat and food trees as well as tree hollows are cleared.Wildlife is frightened, confused, disoriented and pushed out of their homes to perish elsewhere.

Wildlife dying from vehicle strike during construction is also likely. Once quiet country roads will become the main thoroughfare for heavy industrial vehicles moving back and forth between the site and Townsville.

Birds and bats will pay the price with their lives with the vast Prairie wind farm:

The birdlife in this region is rich. A total of 8 raptor species were observed during field surveys:

◼ black kite

◼ brown falcon

◼ grey falcon, Vulnerable

◼ nankeen kestrel

◼ peregrine falcon

◼ square-tailed kite

◼ wedge tail eagle

◼ whistling kite

Vulnerable Squatter Pigeons are thriving onsite with 72 observed in 2021 field surveys.

Once operational, turbine strike will almost certainly impact raptor populations, as well as other bird and bat species. Wedge tailed eagles are already being killed at wind farms in Queensland.

We are deeply concerned about the fate of Queensland’s wildlife, in particular our Koalas, who are experiencing an escalating assault from the proliferation of vast renewable developments on their habitat.

Any wind development that is habitat to Koalas and Greater Gliders should not proceed.