Terri Irwin quizzed over plan to run 8000 cattle on

SELF-styled wildlife warrior Terri Irwin has been warned she may be branded an eco vandal if she presses ahead with a secret plan to build 31 dams and run 8000 head of cattle on a remote Queensland property set up to honour her dead husband Steve.

And she faces the wrath of traditional Aboriginal owners who told me they were insulted when a sign went up rebranding their ancient homeland the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve.

The sign declaring "No Fishing, No Hunting, No Trespassing" was later taken down after angry elders pointed out they had access rights under federal laws.

The plan to quadruple the number of cattle on the Cape York property is contained in briefing documents compiled by the federal Department of Environment and Water Resources and released under Freedom of Information searches.

Environmentalists and indigenous communities fear more cattle would pose a threat to precious 10,000-year-old dry vine forests declared national treasures by the federal Environment Department.

A spokesman for Mrs Irwin denied the threat and said there would be adequate fencing to control herds.

Furious miners and traditional Aboriginal owners say the cattle plan by companies associated with Terri Irwin was approved without a state government environmental impact study.

The Irwins and their Australian Zoo Wildlife Warriors group are fighting plans to mine bauxite on a tiny portion of the land away from the vine forest.

The controversy revolves around the extraordinary purchase of the land in 2007 on the eve of the last federal election.

In what can only be seen as a cynical bid for Green votes, the Howard government gave $6.3 million to Bob and Terri Irwin's development company, Silverback Properties, so they could set up an "environmental research property" to honour the Croc Hunter's memory.

Silverback bought the 135,000ha property known as Bertiehaugh pastoral station for $6 million and was reimbursed - including stamp duties - within days.

At the time Terri Irwin said: "This magnificent gesture by the Australian government will allow us to actively manage this land for conservation and research, as a perpetual memorial to Steve's work."

No one dared question the generosity of the taxpayers' "gift" to the multi-millionaire Irwin family.

And a press release about the gift failed to mention cattle at all, or that the Irwins wanted to build an airstrip there.

However, today I can reveal that prime minister John Howard and then environment minister Malcolm Turnbull were warned of oddities in the purchase in June 2007.

"The proposal does not meet matching funding guidelines," said Peter Cochrane, the federal director of national parks.

Another confidential briefing note warned the handout to the Irwins was outside the rules.

It said: "The proportion of the property to be run as a subleased cattle enterprise on a peppercorn rental for 15 years would require reconsideration of government policy which normally does not provide environmental grants from which considerable private benefit would accrue."

The note also mentioned the Irwins had "a good track record" and, "given their high profile, there would be considerable additional benefit derived from the purchase in terms of public support for conservation".

In other words, the Irwin clan scored a $6 million grant because they are television stars - even though their wildlife reserve is unlikely to be opened to the public.

Terri Irwin wept on a 60 Minutes television program when she said she wanted the massive tract of land to become an international centre for crocodile research.

She also criticised Queensland miner Cape Alumina's plans to mine bauxite there, saying the fragile ecosystem would be imperilled.

And Australia Zoo has also launched an international offensive against the company using Bindi Irwin and Russell Crowe.

On national television in the US, Crowe said he had supported the "Save Steve's Place" online campaign to stop mining.

He told David Letterman on The Late Show the land was under threat from mining. Crowe's appearance prompted more than 13,000 new signatures to the online petition.

The Irwins and Crowe had successfully misled millions of viewers.

The area to be mined is a fragment of the massive property.

And there is no record Steve Irwin ever visited the site. To call it Steve's Place is sentimental baloney.

Paul Messenger, the chief executive of Cape Alumina, condemned the Irwin's campaign run on the Australia Zoo website.

"It's a bit rich. they are throwing stones at us while hatching a plan for intensive cattle raising there," he said.

"It's a massive commercial operation in the making. However, they did not have to lodge an EIS (environmental impact statement) or a heritage plan and they do not have to consult with the traditional owners.

"A substantial commercial venture is being planned without any environmental monitoring, as far as we are aware.

"We are very concerned about what will happen to this precious part of the national estate.

"It is therefore a double standard to criticise our operation."

He said the Cape Alumina's key bauxite deposit was on a plateau known as Pisolite Hills more than 10km away from the vine forests.

He said Mrs Irwin had repeatedly declined to sit down to discuss the proposed mining.

Messenger said Cape Alumina's environmental impact statement to be released next year would be the size of two Sydney phone books and would show environmentalists had nothing to fear from mining.

Stories that Cape Alumina planned to mine bauxite near springs were erroneous, he said.

The cape has been extensively mined for bauxite for 50 years, with Rio Tinto still holding leases over millions of hectares of deposits.

Messenger said he was happy with the strong support from the local indigenous communities and the traditional owners.

"If developed, Pisolite Hills will represent a significant investment in Cape York, will create 350 full-time jobs in an area that suffers from very high unemployment and will contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in state royalties and federal taxes," he said.

He condemned the 60 Minutes program as recklessly irresponsible anti-mining propaganda.

He said it was too easy to criticise the mining industryeven though royalties delivered a high standard of living for Australians.

Bauxite is the raw material for aluminium from which everything from window frames to planes are made.

Anyone who owns a fridge or who has swigged a Coke or a XXXX from a can has benefited from bauxite.