Cudmore National Park, Nature reserve in Barcaldine Regional, Australia.
Cudmore National Park is a protected area of open woodland in Central West Queensland, 120 km northeast of Barcaldine and 844 km northwest of Brisbane. It protects open forest of poplar box eucalyptus, partly with Archidendropsis basaltica as undergrowth. A broad unpaved road runs straight between tall trees with dense, rounded canopies, their shadows banding the dry grass and leaf litter below.
The area was established as a protected reserve in 2011 to conserve local wildlife and their habitats. This creation marked an important step in safeguarding the region's natural diversity.
The park lies in the traditional country of the Bidjara people, and the surrounding Central West Queensland landscape is part of their long-standing connection to the Belyando River headwaters. Visitors travelling the unsealed road from Alpha to Forrester pass through this country, where the park's name recalls the Cudmore pastoral holdings of the district.
Cudmore National Park and the adjoining Cudmore Resources Reserve are reached only from the east, on unsealed roads. From Alpha on the Capricorn Highway, a track runs 131 km north to the small settlement of Forrester, a few kilometres east of the reserve; Forrester can also be reached from the north-east via unsealed roads branching off the Gregory Developmental Road.
Cudmore National Park protects the central greater glider and the koala, both listed as rare or endangered mammals in the park. The park also shelters the Drummond Range bloodwood (Corymbia clandestina), its most endangered recorded plant. In total, 166 animal species and 147 plant species have been recorded here.
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