Balanggarra 1 Fire Project

Balanggarra 1 Fire Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located in the North Kimberley region of Western Australia, approximately 85km northwest of the town of Wyndham. It was registered in February 2014 and covers 1,113,766.92 ha.

Savanna Fire Management projects involve strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. This approach prevents larger, more destructive and severe wildfires from breaking out late in the dry season. Standard requirements for this methodology involve calculating the avoided methane and nitrous oxide emissions by comparing project year fire emissions against a historical 10-year pre-management baseline.

The Wyndham-East Kimberley region encompasses extensive traditional Indigenous lands, conservation reserves, and pastoral cattle grazing operations. The area experiences a tropical monsoon climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The project activities target savanna regions across both high rainfall and low rainfall zones. The surrounding environment is characterized by steep sandstone ranges and gorges, with soils typically consisting of shallow, sandy lateritic orthents, sandy loams, and cracking clays in the lower river valleys.

This project is a collaboration between the Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, acting as the proponent, and the Kimberley Land Council. Notably, in early 2014, the Balanggarra Traditional Owners and three other North Kimberley groups became the first Indigenous groups in Australia to register carbon businesses on their exclusive possession native title lands. Using traditional knowledge of "right-way" fire, the project achieves vital co-benefits: it strengthens intergenerational cultural knowledge, protects ancient and remote rock art from destructive wildfires, safeguards threatened biodiversity like the Northern Quoll, and creates sustainable employment for local Indigenous rangers. In December 2015, the project underwent variations to officially add more areas to the project and to update its method to the 2015 Savanna Fire Management determination.