Boothulla Regeneration Project

Boothulla Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at Boothulla Station, approximately 60km north-west of Cooladdi in the Quilpie local government area of south-west Queensland. It was registered in August 2015 and covers 72,656.64 ha.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve establishing permanent even-aged native forests through assisted natural regeneration. Standard requirements mandate that proponents cease activities that have historically suppressed regrowth, such as land clearing or suppression for at least 10 years prior to the project, and manage the timing and extent of livestock grazing. This allows in-situ seed sources, rootstock, and lignotubers to regenerate naturally until the vegetation reaches standard forest metrics of at least 20% crown cover and two metres in height.

The Cooladdi and broader south-west Queensland region is heavily utilised for extensive beef cattle grazing operations. Situated within the Mulga lands, the area is considered semi-arid and experiences a low rainfall climate. Soils across the project area generally consist of red earth, claypans, and hard and soft mulga landtypes, interspersed with highly valued pockets of Mitchell grass.

The property has been owned and operated by the Treloar family since 1957. Alongside the carbon farming activities on the project, the proponents have adopted natural sequence farming to restore degraded claypans. By constructing contour banks to slow water flow and rehydrate the landscape, they complement their recent shift toward short-duration rotational grazing. Interestingly, the property originally ran sheep but shifted entirely to a cattle enterprise in 2003 due to the ravages of dingoes.