Cobbrum Native Forest Regeneration Project

Cobbrum Native Forest Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at the Cobbrum property, approximately 80 to 97 kilometres east to north-east of Cunnamulla in the Shire of Paroo in south-west Queensland. The project was registered in November 2017 and covers a massive 32,823.75 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects aim to establish permanent, even-aged native forests by assisting regeneration from in-situ seed sources, which can include rootstock and lignotubers. Standard requirements for this methodology dictate that the land must have been previously cleared of native vegetation and regrowth suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project's commencement. The Cobbrum project achieves this by actively excluding livestock and carefully managing the timing and extent of grazing to remove suppression pressures, allowing native tree species to reach a proper forest cover.

The surrounding region is part of the Mulga Lands bioregion, an area largely dedicated to pastoral leases for sheep and cattle grazing. The environment experiences a hot, semi-arid climate with notoriously low and unpredictable rainfall, averaging around 370–374 mm annually. The soils across this terrain are predominantly sandy red earths, shallow loams, and alluvial claypans which support the region's hardy mulga (Acacia aneura) woodlands, eucalypts, and native grasses.

Interestingly, the project area shares its footprint with the Cobbrum Lake Nature Refuge, a 1,231-hectare protected claypan lake on the property. Gazetted by the Queensland Government in 2008, the refuge provides crucial wetland habitat for large numbers of native waterfowl and migratory wader birds during wet years. Additionally, in April 2020, the project underwent a variation, leading to specific areas originally listed under the project being removed.