Peter Richards is the owner of Long Grass Nature Refuge, a property located in Fordsdale, approximately 30km southwest of Gatton, Queensland. The property is a home and dedicated wildlife sanctuary which is also used for wildlife rehabilitation, and it is Peter’s intention for it to remain so. The environmental values of Long Grass Nature Refuge are protected in-perpetuity through a Nature Refuge Agreement with the Queensland Government.
The property covers approximately 486 hectares consisting of various habitat types including native grasslands, rainforest, ironbark forest, dry vine scrub and riparian vegetation, and features geological features such as sandstone cliffs. The property has approximately 6 km of frontage to Ma Ma Creek which is the route of the Bicentennial National Trail. Approximately 60 hectares of the property was previously cleared grazing land.
A number of significant species occur on the property including white cliff bottlebrush (Callistemon formosus), Blakes wattle (Acacia blakei), thready barked she-oak (Allocasuarina inophloia), splendid boronia (Boronia splendida), Australian corn flower (Stemmacantha australis) and white cyprus (Callitris baileyi).
Examples of wildlife species known to occur on Long Grass Nature Refuge include more than 90 recorded bird species, koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), red-necked wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), brush-tailed rock wallabies (Petrogale penicillata), ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus peregrinus), brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus) and many more.