It has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it regularly supports over 1% of the world populations of freckled ducks and grey teals.

Both lake basins represent tectonic depressions created by movements deep in the earth's crust; they have relatively small catchments and are bordered by the Great Dividing Range.

In dry times, playas consist of cracking clay flats that can be crusted and hardened to varying degrees depending on their substrate and position in the landscape, and sometimes might be covered in a thin layer of soluble salt deposits.

[8] Some lakebeds are devoid of vegetation, but others support diverse communities of forbs and grasses as they dry out, which make them a valuable potential grazing resource.

When they contain water, arid and semi-arid lakes can also support highly productive aquatic plant beds and algal turfs that are an important component of the food chain.

[8] This profile covers the habitat types of a wetland termed semi-arid saline lake, located on cattle grazing properties in the Desert Uplands bioregion of Central West Queensland.

This large lake has six major wetland habitats and include:[7] Regional ecosystems are assigned a conservation status based on their current extent in a particular bioregion.

It is important habitat for animal taxa at a vulnerable stage in their life cycles, or provides a refuge when adverse conditions such as drought prevail.

[19] Other flora species found in the Lake Galilee area include cane grass (Eragrostis australasica) which is extensive in the northern half.

The weed parkinsonia occurs extensively together with Belalie in dense thickets in the south-east inlets; Sesbania thickets occur in the northern lake bed and on southern islands, dense marshes of ribbed spike-rush (Eleocharis plana) with aquatics such as Monochoria cyanea and nardoo under shrubs in some south-eastern inlets and creeks.

[16] A 2008 Wetlands International/ ANU bird survey[17] of Lake Galilee found that the two habitats which support the most breeding waterbirds, are the inundated groves of belalie Acacia stenophylla and dry islands.

The inundated belalie groves supported three mixed-species colonies of spoonbills, egrets, ibises and cormorants, ranging from a few tens to several hundreds of active nests.

Migratory waterbirds make round trip migrations of up to 26,000 km each year between their breeding grounds in the Northern Hemisphere and their non-breeding areas in the south.

While five Asian-breeding shorebirds listed under the EPBC Act were recorded at Lake Galilee during a survey conducted by Jaensch and Reid (2008) for Wetlands International in collaboration with Australian National University.

The survey in May 2008[17] also recorded 50 species and at least 20,000 individuals and confirming the international-level importance of Lake Galilee in terms of numbers of waterbirds supported.

This survey also discovered internationally important numbers (at least 1% of the Flyway population) of sharp-tailed sandpiper across the four main wetlands of the Desert Uplands bioregion; Lakes Galilee, Buchanan and Dunn and Cauckingburra Swamp.

)[22] Pastoral settlement began on the eastern side of Lake Galilee in 1877, when Charles Bowly acquired the Oakley run and stocked it with cattle.

In the early 2000s a biodiversity audit suggested some concern about over-clearing in some ecosystems and said, "the most quantifiable threatening process is broad scale tree clearing",[15] although data collated for 1999 indicated that 87% of the bioregion remained uncleared.

[24] Many ecosystems in the Desert Uplands are being invaded by buffel grass, which forms a dense monoculture therefore decreasing the biodiversity of ecosystems[15] Another aspect of invasion by buffel grass is that this plant species is very phosphorus- and nitrogen-dependent and a long term run down of phosphorus in the already phosphorus deficient soils of the Desert Uplands may occur leading to a further loss of native plant species.

[15] In 1995, the Desert Uplands Build-up and Development Committee was established and has worked with landholders to enhance grazing and ecological sustainability, enterprise profitability and community resilience.

The Indigenous peoples of inland Queensland have strong cultural associations with arid and semi-arid lakes (fresh and salt) dating back thousands of years.

Lakes were important for Indigenous peoples of the arid and semi-arid interior, providing seasonal water, food and other material resources, as well as having ceremonial and spiritual values.

[3] Feral pigs cause damage by disturbing nesting birds, predation on frogs and aquatic species (e.g. mussels) and uprooting lakebed and riparian vegetation.

[8] Their role as a host or vector for diseases of cattle such as leptospirosis makes control of feral pigs particularly desirable for landholders and the wider community.

[8] Tree clearing, some overgrazing and the introduction of buffel grass has occurred near the lake in the past and has created some impacts on biodiversity, water quality, erosion and changes in sedimentation and substrate composition.

[8] Visitors use the riparian timber for campfire fuel, especially hollow branches and logs and over a long period totally degrade habitat for hollow-dwelling fauna such as ducks, parrots, owls, bats and reptiles.

Chemical methods of control have included:[6] The 2011-2012 Caring For Our Country funding has enabled the participating landholders to tackle 620 hectares of parkinsonia, which is approximately twelve per cent of the total mapped infestation area around the lake.

Combined with the additional control works carried out by landholders it is estimated that the parkinsonia infestation is now down to half its original mapped area.

[6] Early results have been mixed, but Desert Channels Queensland and researchers are working with landholders to assess the potential of using fungus inoculation to control parkinsonia.

Grazing management practices are already promoted in the Desert Uplands via a number of initiatives including a group of graziers using the International Standards for Environmental Management (ISO 14001) and a Natural Heritage Trust project sponsored through the Desert Uplands Development and Build-up Strategy group promoting on-ground nature conservation.