Kergunyah Native Forest Protection Project

Kergunyah Native Forest Protection Project is an avoided deforestation project located on Kergunyah Station, approximately 46km northeast of Cobar in central-western New South Wales. It was registered in March 2015 and covers an area of 11,752.47 hectares.

Avoided deforestation projects protect native forests from being cleared and converted into agricultural systems. The methodology specifically applies to land where a clearing permit was issued prior to 1 July 2010. By preventing the planned broadscale clearing and instead retaining the forest, the project avoids the greenhouse gas emissions that would have been released into the atmosphere.

The Cobar region features a semi-arid climate and is widely known for sheep and cattle grazing operations, as well as extensive base metal mining. The area experiences low, variable rainfall averaging between 350mm and 400mm annually, and the landscape is characterised by native bushland growing in vulnerable red earth soils and sandy loams.

This project was established in partnership with GreenCollar to help the leaseholders balance a profitable grazing operation with vital ecosystem conservation. Since ceasing broadscale clearing and implementing managed grazing, the property has preserved open woodlands and shrublands featuring native Acacias, Eremophilas, Callitris, and Eucalyptus. The family operating the station has reported increased ground cover and water retention during droughts, alongside sightings of threatened native marsupials like the Kultarr and Hopping Mice returning to the habitat. Originally registered under an older method, the project was varied to the Avoided Deforestation 1.1 determination in May 2015. Furthermore, carbon credits generated by this project have been purchased and retired by Ampol as part of their corporate carbon-neutral fuel pilot program.