Bullock Hills Direct Seeding 2010 and 2012 (Revoked)

Bullock Hills Direct Seeding 2010 and 2012 is an Environmental planting projects project located at Bullock Hills, approximately 8km south of Ararat in Victoria's Western District. It was registered in December 2012 and covers 31.76ha.

Environmental planting projects involve planting or direct seeding native trees at a density of at least 200 stems per ha to establish permanent forest cover. This specific methodology quantifies carbon sequestered from permanent native plantings on land cleared for at least five years, utilising the CFI Reforestation Modelling Tool.

The Ararat region, situated on the Great Dividing Range, is known for cereal cropping on the lower slopes and sheep grazing. The area receives moderate rainfall of roughly 550mm annually, and the local soils are predominantly fine granitic sand and sandy loams.

This project was established by local farmers Peter and Christine Forster to restore marginal land that had historically been overgrazed, stripped of vegetation, and heavily impacted by dryland salinity and rabbit warrens. By direct seeding local native species such as Red Gum and Black Wattle, the project sequestered approximately 4.5 tonnes of carbon emissions per hectare annually and created a self-sustaining grassy woodland that provides essential shade and shelter for livestock while reducing erosion. Although showcased by the federal government in 2013 as a premier example of the Carbon Farming Initiative, the project was revoked in June 2015. The proponents noted that low market carbon prices meant carbon farming alone could not be relied upon for primary income, reinforcing their belief that planting trees must serve broader agricultural and biodiversity purposes.