Woodleigh Station Regeneration Project

The Woodleigh Station Regeneration Project is a large-scale Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located on Woodleigh Station in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Situated within the Shire of Shark Bay, the property is approximately 170 kilometers south-southeast of Carnarvon and lies to the east of the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. Registered in May 2018, the project encompasses a massive area of 415,526 hectares. The region is traditionally utilized for pastoral leasing, specifically sheep and cattle grazing, and is also known for station stay tourism.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects in this context involve regenerating native forest on land where vegetation growth has been historically suppressed, typically by livestock grazing or feral animals. To generate carbon credits, the project proponent must implement land management changes, such as controlling grazing timing and density, to allow native vegetation to regenerate into forest cover. The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Methodology 2013 and is subject to a 25-year permanence period, requiring the maintained forest cover until at least 2050.

The environmental setting of Woodleigh Station is characteristic of the Western Australian rangelands, featuring a semi-arid to arid climate with irregular rainfall. The landscape is dominated by red sandy earth and loamy soils, supporting acacia shrublands and scrub. A unique geological feature of this location is the Woodleigh Impact Structure, a massive meteorite impact crater buried beneath the surface, which centers on the station.

An interesting facet of this project is its proponent, Richard (Rick) Edmund Fenny, a prominent Western Australian veterinarian and media personality known for his association with the legendary "Red Dog" and his appearance in the TV series "Desert Vet." The project has successfully fulfilled a Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC852979) with the Australian Government as of January 2022.