Atley Station Regeneration Project

Atley Station Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at Atley Station, approximately 110 kilometres east of Mount Magnet and near the town of Sandstone in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. It was registered in May 2018 and covers a vast area of 350,796.47 hectares. A project variation in April 2020 resulted in some original land areas being removed from the registration.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve establishing permanent native forests by changing land management practices to allow native vegetation to reach forest cover. Standard requirements usually dictate that land managers cease mechanical clearing and actively manage suppressors like feral animals or livestock. This specific project achieves forest regeneration by carefully managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing, which encourages assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources such as rootstock and lignotubers.

The Sandstone and broader Mid-West regions are extensively used for pastoral operations, predominantly operating as sheep and goat grazing stations. The local environment is classified as having an arid to semi-arid climate with low, variable rainfall. Typical soils in the region consist of variable-depth red earths overlying siliceous hardpans, alongside stony soils and red sandy earths.

Interestingly, Atley Station is a historically significant pastoral lease with deep ties to the local agricultural industry dating back to before 1915. The land utilised for this carbon project had previously been completely cleared of native vegetation, and natural regrowth had been actively suppressed by agricultural activities for at least 10 years prior to the project's commencement.