Aquila Revegetation (Revoked)

Aquila Revegetation (Revoked) is an environmental planting project located near the rural locality of Stuart Mill, approximately 20 kilometers south of St Arnaud in the Pyrenees region of Victoria. Registered in March 2015 and covering 128.52 hectares, the project is situated in a transitional agricultural zone where land use typically shifts between cropping on the plains and grazing in the undulating foothills of the Pyrenees ranges.

The project operated under the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings-FullCAM methodology. This method involves establishing permanent native forests, using either mixed species or mallee eucalypt species, on land that has been clear of forest for at least five years. The goal is to sequester carbon by allowing the trees to reach forest cover maturity, typically defined by a height of at least 2 meters and canopy cover of 20% or more. Standard requirements for such projects include strict stocking densities (often requiring hundreds of stems per hectare depending on the specific planting configuration) to ensure the vegetation meets the definition of a forest.

Environmentally, the St Arnaud and Stuart Mill region experiences a temperate to semi-arid climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 500mm to 600mm. The soils in this area are often texture-contrast soils (Sodosols) or sedimentary clay loams derived from the surrounding ancient marine deposits of the Pyrenees. These soils can be susceptible to erosion when cleared, making revegetation a vital activity for land rehabilitation as well as carbon sequestration.

It is notable that this project was revoked in January 2018 under section 30 of the CFI Rule, which typically indicates a voluntary revocation by the proponent. The proponent, Greenfleet Australia, is a prominent non-profit environmental organization. While the project is no longer generating Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) under the Clean Energy Regulator, Greenfleet often manages its sites for philanthropic or voluntary carbon offset purposes, meaning the physical forest may still remain in situ despite the regulatory revocation.