ILC Herd Management Project (Revoked)

The ILC Herd Management Project (Revoked) was an aggregated carbon abatement initiative located across multiple pastoral regions in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia. Registered in April 2016, the project was managed by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC), a Commonwealth entity that assists Indigenous people in acquiring and managing land. The project operated until its voluntary revocation in September 2022.

Unlike single-property projects, this initiative covered a vast geographic footprint, indicated by its registration across eight distinct postcodes (0822, 0850, 4625, 4702, 4871, 6701, 6725, 6728). These locations correspond to key cattle grazing regions, including the Kimberley in Western Australia (likely covering ILSC properties such as Roebuck Plains near Broome and Myroodah Station near Derby), the Katherine region in the Northern Territory (potentially Warrigundu Station), and Cape York and the Burnett region in Queensland (likely Merepah and Crocodile/Welcome Stations). The primary land use across these areas is extensive beef cattle grazing on pastoral leases.

The environmental conditions across this aggregation are characteristic of Northern Australia's tropical and sub-tropical rangelands. The regions typically experience a distinct wet and dry season (monsoonal climate), with high rainfall during summer months and dry, warm winters. Soil types vary significantly across the aggregation, ranging from the red earth and sandy loams of the Kimberley and Katherine regions to the clay and basalt soils found in parts of Queensland. These environments support native pasture systems essential for free-range cattle production.

The project operated under the Beef Cattle Herd Management methodology. This method credits reductions in greenhouse gas emissions intensity by improving the efficiency of beef production. The specific activity for this project was "increasing the ratio of weight to age of the herd," which involves management strategies to make cattle grow faster or reach market weight earlier, thereby reducing the amount of methane produced per kilogram of beef. The project was revoked under Section 33 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011, which indicates a voluntary request by the proponent to cease the project, potentially to transition to different land management strategies or methods.