Stirling Lotus Vale (Revoked)

Stirling Lotus Vale (Revoked) was a Savanna Fire Management project located at Stirling Lotus Vale Station, approximately 100km to 120km northeast of Normanton in the Gulf of Carpentaria region of Queensland. Registered in July 2015, the project covered a vast area of 126,135 hectares. The project was revoked in May 2017 and the associated carbon abatement contract was terminated.

The project was situated on a working cattle property. Stirling Lotus Vale Station acts as a backgrounding property for the Gulf Coast Agricultural Company, grazing Brahman cattle on native pastures. The region is defined by a tropical savanna climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The environment typically consists of flat to gently undulating plains with vegetation dominated by eucalypt woodlands and tussock grasses. Soils in this Gulf Plains region vary from cracking clays on floodplains to sandy loams and red earths in adjacent areas.

The project operated under the Emissions Abatement through Savanna Fire Management 2015 methodology. This method involves strategic burning of savanna areas during the early dry season (cooler months) to reduce fuel loads. By doing so, land managers aim to prevent high-intensity, uncontrolled wildfires during the late dry season, which release significantly more methane and nitrous oxide. This specific project was classified within the "low rainfall zone" (receiving between 600mm and 1000mm of rainfall annually) for the purpose of abatement calculations.