Armoobilla Regeneration Project

Armoobilla Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located on the Armoobilla property, approximately 92km east of Quilpie and 123km south-west of Charleville in South-West Queensland. It was registered in August 2015 and covers an extensive area of 44,836.67 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve implementing changes in land management practices to allow native vegetation to regenerate from in-situ seed sources (including rootstock and lignotubers) to establish permanent even-aged native forests. Standard requirements dictate that the project area must have been suppressed from generating forest for at least 10 years, and the regenerative activities must help the land reach native forest cover, generally defined as achieving at least 20% crown canopy cover and trees of at least 2 metres in height. For the Armoobilla project, these management activities include the cessation of mechanical or chemical suppression of regrowth, alongside the careful management of the timing and extent of livestock grazing.

The Quilpie region is part of the Mulga Lands and is widely known for its extensive pastoral land uses, primarily cattle and sheep grazing operations. The environment is considered semi-arid, experiencing highly variable and relatively low annual rainfall. Local soil types are characteristic of the Mulga Lands, featuring red sands, sandy loams, and areas of alluvial clay near creeks and waterholes.

An interesting fact about this project is its prominence in the national conversation around carbon offset integrity. Carbon credits generated from the Armoobilla Regeneration Project were purchased by major supermarket chain Coles to offset its "carbon-neutral" beef range. However, the project gained significant media attention in 2022 when carbon market critics, including former Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee chair Professor Andrew Macintosh, claimed that the site's vegetation fluctuations were driven more by rainfall than by changes in grazing management. Despite the public criticism, the project's proponents and the Clean Energy Regulator have consistently maintained that the project meets the rigorous scientific requirements of the government's carbon farming standards.