Kingbolt Regeneration Project

The Kingbolt Regeneration Project is a large-scale Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located on Kingbolt Station, a pastoral property approximately 175 kilometers northwest of Bourke in New South Wales. Registered in August 2015, the project covers a substantial area of 16,151 hectares in the Mulga Lands bioregion, sitting near the Cuttaburra Creek system and the hamlet of Yantabulla. The region is remote, situated roughly 100 kilometers west of the Mitchell Highway and the Queensland border town of Barringun.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects in this context involve implementing land management changes to allow native vegetation to recover and reach forest maturity. This project operates under the Cessation of mechanical or chemical destruction and Management of grazing activities. Specifically, this means the landholders actively suppress regrowth drivers, such as feral goats or intensive livestock grazing, to permit the return of native forest cover (defined as trees reaching 2 meters in height with 20% canopy density).

The local environment is distinctively semi-arid, characterized by red massive earths and sandy loam soils. The vegetation is dominated by Mulga (Acacia aneura) woodlands, alongside species such as Beefwood, Corkwood, and Ironwood. The landscape includes watercourse country fed by the Windy Weather Creek and 35 Mile Creek systems, which can provide beneficial flooding to box flats during wet years. The rainfall is generally low and variable, typical of the Western Division of NSW.

A significant aspect of this project is its close tie to the property's change of ownership. In early 2019, Kingbolt Station was marketed for sale as "4 Enterprises in 1," explicitly advertising the carbon project income alongside cattle, sheep, and goat operations. Following this, the project participant role transferred from the original owners (the Mooring family) to Rechecked Pty Ltd (trustee for the Robert Reed Investment Trust) in May 2019, indicating the carbon rights were sold with the land. While the project was briefly held by the carbon service provider Select Carbon (now a Shell subsidiary), it reverted to the landowner, Rechecked Pty Ltd, in January 2024.