Pinnacles Regeneration Project

Pinnacles Regeneration Project is a human-induced regeneration project located at Pinnacles Station, approximately 116km northwest of Leonora and 40km southwest of Leinster in Western Australia's Goldfields region. It was registered in May 2018 and covers an expansive 213,252.29 hectares.

Human-induced regeneration of a permanent even-aged native forest involves changing land management practices to allow native vegetation to regenerate from in-situ seed sources, such as rootstock and lignotubers. This methodology requires that the land was previously cleared of vegetation and that regrowth had been suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project commencing. For this project, regeneration is primarily being assisted by managing the timing and the extent of livestock grazing.

The Goldfields region of Western Australia is characterised by an arid to semi-arid climate with low, unreliable rainfall and high summer temperatures. Soils in this area are generally fragile, consisting of red sandy earths, loams, and areas of chenopod (saltbush and bluebush) flats interspersed with mulga scrub. Regional land use is predominantly large-scale pastoral leases focused on cattle and sheep grazing.

Pinnacles Station itself has a rich pastoral history dating back to 1896 and encompasses roughly 700,000 acres. While historically operating as a cattle run before transitioning heavily into sheep in the 1920s, it has in recent years transitioned back to running cattle under the management of the Harvey family. Beyond carbon farming, the project's proponent, Craig Harvey, has been a prominent local advocate for the revival of a dedicated rural stock squad in Western Australia to combat rampant livestock theft across the northern Goldfields. To date, the project has successfully generated over 80,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).