Ninghan Station Regeneration Project

Ninghan Station Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at Ninghan Station, near Paynes Find and Mount Singleton, approximately 380km north-east of Perth in Western Australia. It was registered in May 2018 and covers an impressive 197,167.51 hectares. The broader Shire of Yalgoo region is historically known for pastoral operations, notably sheep and cattle grazing, but is increasingly shifting towards indigenous-led conservation and carbon farming.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve establishing permanent even-aged native forests by encouraging assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, such as rootstock and lignotubers. A standard requirement of the methodology is that the land must have been previously cleared of vegetation and where regrowth was suppressed for at least ten years prior to the project commencing. To achieve this regeneration, proponents must implement changes in land management. For this project, the core activity involves managing the timing and the extent of livestock grazing to allow native vegetation to recover and thrive.

Situated at the junction of four bioregions where southern eucalyptus woodlands and northern mulga plains meet, the station's environment is semi-arid and characterised by its rugged beauty. The region experiences a low-rainfall climate typical of the outback. The soils feature predominantly red earth and loam, interspersed with large granite outcrops such as the epic Warrdagga Rock, and nearby salt pans like Lake Moore. The station boasts remarkable botanical diversity, featuring over 730 species of flowering plants.

Ninghan Station has a rich cultural and ecological history. The pastoral lease was purchased by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission for the Pindiddy Aboriginal Corporation in 1993, allowing the traditional Indigenous owners, the Bell family, to live on and manage their country. Since taking over, the family has drastically reduced sheep numbers, from roughly 18,000 in 1993 to zero, and worked extensively to fence and trap feral goats, effectively transforming a degraded landscape into a renewing ecosystem. In 2006, a 48,000-hectare portion of the station was declared an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA). Working alongside their carbon agent, Select Carbon, the family has successfully integrated regenerative agriculture into their remaining cattle enterprise. The project successfully completed a Commonwealth carbon abatement contract (CAC655448) for 4,000 tonnes in August 2021, and its generated carbon credits have also been purchased by major corporations like Woodside Energy to offset their corporate emissions.