Erlistoun Station Regeneration Project

Erlistoun Station Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located at Erlistoun Station, approximately 72km north of Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It was registered in May 2018 and originally covered 292,219.36 hectares, though a variation in July 2020 removed specific areas from the project boundaries.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve establishing permanent, even-aged native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, which includes rootstock and lignotubers. To qualify, this must occur on land that was previously cleared of vegetation and where natural regrowth was suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project commencing. For this project, the proponent is actively encouraging regeneration by managing the timing and the extent of livestock grazing across the station.

The Laverton area and the broader Goldfields region are well known for expansive pastoral leases traditionally used for cattle and sheep grazing, alongside significant gold and nickel mining operations. The local environment is classified as semi-arid to arid, characterized by low and highly variable rainfall. The soils in this remote region typically consist of red sandy loams and clay loams, which are characteristic of the Western Australian Outback.

Erlistoun Station has a long history as a pastoral lease, with its first block taken up in 1904. The harshness of the local climate was particularly evident during a severe regional drought in 2019, which was noted in the Western Australian Parliament Hansard. Due to severe shortages of feed and water, Erlistoun's normal carrying capacity of 5,000 head of cattle had to be drastically reduced to 2,000. This climatic vulnerability highlights the dual benefit of the carbon project: it allows the proponent, Moore River Beef Pty Ltd, to rest the land from heavy grazing pressures to promote native vegetation recovery, while also diversifying the station's income in a challenging and drought-prone landscape.