Protected Areas
Queensland contains significant areas of rainforest and other areas of biological diversity. World Heritage Areas include the Great Barrier Reef, Wet Tropics of Queensland and Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. Queensland has 226 national parks. The largest is Simpson Desert National Park in the remote central west of the state. The most visited national parks in South East Queensland are Tamborine National Park, Lamington National Park and Noosa National Park. These parks are located near centres of major population and are the most accessible in the state. Lamington and other parks around the Scenic Rim such as Main Range National Park, are included in the World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia.
Further afield is the Carnarvon National Park in Central Queensland containing rugged gorge country and some of Australia's finest Aboriginal rock art. In the north of the state are Boodjamulla National Park including Riversleigh, Barron Gorge National Park and Daintree National Park where the Wet Tropics of Queensland meets the Great Barrier Reef. Some waterways are protected in three state marine parks. These are the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Great Sandy Marine Park and Moreton Bay Marine Park.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Queensland
Famous quotes containing the words protected and/or areas:
“Free competition exists inside shelters of law, custom, insurance, political approval, and carefully protected status.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)