Mullagalah Regeneration Project

Mullagalah Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 50km southeast of Bourke in NSW. It was registered in March 2015 and covers an expansive 11,326.47ha.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve regenerating native forests by changing land management practices. The standard requirement is that the regenerating native vegetation must reach forest cover, typically defined under the ERF as achieving a minimum of 20% canopy cover and a height of at least 2 metres.

The Bourke area is known for pastoral operations, primarily sheep and cattle grazing within a semi-arid outback landscape. The region experiences a hot, semi-arid climate with low average annual rainfall (typically between 200mm and 400mm), and soils are predominantly red and black alluvial clays, red earths, and desert loams.

This project establishes permanent native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources (including rootstock and lignotubers) on land that was cleared of vegetation and where regrowth was suppressed for at least 10 years. It achieves this by carefully managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing, alongside the humane management of feral animals. In August 2023, the project method was officially updated from Compilation No. 1 to Compilation No. 3 of the 2013 Methodology Determination. Interestingly, the project area shares its name with the Mullagalah breccia pipe, an unusual local geological formation containing baryte-bearing hybrid basalts formed at extreme mantle depths.