The Staaten River National Park is a national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, 1640 km northwest of Brisbane. It receives its name from the Staaten River

Staaten River

The Staaten River is a river in the Cape York Peninsula, Australia that rises more than 200 km to the west of Cairns and empties into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Along the way, its waters overflow into intertwining lagoons that create an enormous wetland sanctuary for a vast array of unique...

 which flows through the park.

Environment

The park encompasses an extensive section of the least modified tropical savannas

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are a grassland terrestrial biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees...

 in Queensland. The vegetation is savanna

Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...

 woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 dissected by ephemeral

Ephemeral

Ephemeral things are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things....

 streams with a small number of permanent or semi-permanent waterholes. It has few exotic weed

Weed

A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

s or introduced animals

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

.

Important Bird Area

The park has been identified as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 (IBA) by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 because it supports a large population of up to a thousand endangered Golden-shouldered Parrot

Golden-shouldered Parrot

The Golden-shouldered Parrot is a rare bird of southern Cape York Peninsula, in Queensland, Australia. A small attractive parrot related to the more common Red-rumped Parrot, it is considered to be a superspecies with the Hooded Parrot The Golden-shouldered Parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius) is a...

s. It also supports populations of Australian Bustard

Australian Bustard

The Australian Bustard, Ardeotis australis, is a large ground bird of grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is also commonly referred to in Central Australia as the Bush Turkey, particularly by Aboriginal people.The male is up to ...

s, Bush Stone-curlew

Bush Stone-curlew

The Bush Stone-curlew or Bush Thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia...

s, Black-throated

Black-throated Finch

The Black-throated Finch , or Parson Finch, is a species of estrildid finch found in grassy woodlands throughout north-east Australia from Cape York Peninsula to north-east New South Wales...

 and Masked Finch

Masked Finch

The Masked Finch is a small passerine bird in the estrildid finch family, Estrildidae. It is a common resident of dry savanna across northern Australia, from the Kimberley, across the Top End, the Gulf country and the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, as far east as Chillagoe, but always near...

es, Varied Lorikeet

Varied Lorikeet

The Varied Lorikeet is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family.It is endemic to northern Australia.-Description:...

s, and Yellow-tinted

Yellow-tinted Honeyeater

The Yellow-tinted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea....

, Banded

Banded Honeyeater

The Banded Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . ...

, Yellow

Yellow Honeyeater

The Yellow Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....

 and Bar-breasted Honeyeater

Bar-breasted Honeyeater

The Bar-breasted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 27 July 2007....

s.