Ellavale Native Forest Protection Project

Ellavale Native Forest Protection Project is an Avoided Deforestation project located at Ellavale Station, approximately 32km from Fords Bridge and 100km northwest of Bourke in New South Wales. Registered on November 4, 2014, the project covers 40,884.55 hectares, which encompasses nearly the entirety of the 41,067-hectare pastoral property.

Avoided Deforestation projects involve protecting native forests from being cleared and preventing the land from being converted to an agricultural system. A strict standard requirement for this methodology is that a valid land clearing permit must have been issued for the project area prior to July 1, 2010. The project avoids greenhouse gas emissions by forgoing this clearing right and retaining the native forest carbon stocks.

The Fords Bridge and Bourke region is widely utilized for large-scale pastoral grazing operations. Ellavale Station itself is heavily equipped to background the equivalent of 25,000 goats alongside sheep and cattle. Environmentally, the area falls into a semi-arid rainfall classification, experiencing an average annual rainfall slightly below the 340mm typical of the nearby Bourke township. The property's soil types and topography vary, featuring flood-out country from the Warrego River system that transitions into red sandy loams, mulga country, and natural saline plains.

Interestingly, the native landscape across the station has historically faced severe encroachment by woody weeds such as turpentine (Eremophila sturtii) and budda (Eremophila duttonii) for over a century. The carbon project provides a lucrative secondary income stream that operates alongside the property's traditional grazing systems. Terra Carbon Pty Limited acts as the agent for the project, which holds an active Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC440774) that originally committed over 1 million tonnes of abatement to the Commonwealth. Additionally, the project underwent a participant variation in September 2023, transferring from Hayes Pastoral Corporation Pty Ltd to Grimwade & Gordon Land Pty Ltd as trustee for Grimwade & Gordon Land Trust.