North Kimberley Pastoral Lease Carbon Abatement

North Kimberley Pastoral Lease Carbon Abatement is an early dry season savanna burning project located at Doongan and Theda Stations in the North Kimberley region, approximately 270km west of Kununurra in Western Australia. It was registered in February 2014 and covers 844,114.82 hectares.

Early dry season savanna burning projects involve the strategic and planned ignition of savanna areas during the early dry season. This standard requirement aims to reduce the available fuel load, mitigating the risk of larger, more intense, and highly emissive wild fires occurring late in the dry season.

The North Kimberley region is historically known for cattle grazing on expansive pastoral leases, alongside conservation and eco-tourism efforts. The environment experiences a tropical monsoon climate with distinct wet and dry seasons, typically receiving high rainfall during the wet season. Soils across these vast savanna woodlands and rocky escarpments are generally shallow, lateritic, and sandy.

Interestingly, this project was originally named 'Ecofire-North Carbon Abatement' with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy as the initial proponent. In 2014 and 2015, variations shifted the proponent to Dunkeld Pastoral Co. Pty. Ltd. (as trustee for the Yasme Trust) and updated the project name to its current title. The proponent actively integrates sustainable land management with carbon abatement, protecting the unique biodiversity of the region and supporting captive breeding programs for species like the Eastern Quoll.