Catchment Conservation Alliance - Southern Rivers Initiative Site #5

Catchment Conservation Alliance - Southern Rivers Initiative Site #5 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located on Lantana Station, approximately 150km southwest of Charleville in Queensland. Registered in October 2017, the project covers a substantial area of roughly 38,021 hectares. The site sits within the Mulga Lands bioregion, an area traditionally dominated by rangeland grazing (sheep and cattle) on large pastoral stations.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects in this context do not involve planting trees; rather, they focus on changing land management practices to allow suppressed native vegetation to recover. For this specific project, the regeneration of native forests, primarily Mulga (Acacia aneura), Box, and Coolibah woodlands, is achieved by managing the timing and extent of grazing and actively controlling feral animals, particularly goats, which historically suppressed regrowth.

The environment in this region is semi-arid, characterized by low and variable rainfall. The terrain typically consists of red earth (Kandosols) and black soil country, supporting a mix of shrublands and open woodlands. The project is part of the broader Catchment Conservation Alliance, and reports indicate that carbon revenue has enabled the landholders, Carl and Judi Bain, to invest in significant infrastructure upgrades, such as new fencing and water points, effectively "drought-proofing" their grazing enterprise while restoring the local ecosystem.