Hillview Station Regeneration Project

The Hillview Station Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located on Hillview Station, approximately 60km southeast of Meekatharra in the Murchison region of Western Australia. Registered in September 2018, the project covers a vast area of 147,768 hectares. The property is a working cattle station, run by proponents Darren and Kim Cousens (Platinum Pastoral Trust), which manages Santa Gertrudis and Droughtmaster cattle amidst the carbon farming operations.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve regenerating native forests on land where vegetation has been suppressed for at least 10 years, typically by grazing or historical clearing. To achieve this, the project proponents actively manage the timing and extent of grazing pressure to allow native vegetation, specifically Mulga woodlands and Wanderie tussock grasses in this region, to regenerate from in-situ seed sources and rootstock.

The Murchison region is characterized by an arid to semi-arid climate with highly variable rainfall, averaging around 240mm annually, which often arrives via winter fronts or summer thunderstorms. The terrain consists of "never-ending red earth," typically red sandplains, hardpan, and colluvial plains supporting Mulga shrublands and saltbush.

Notably, Hillview Station has been a focal point for the integration of technology in pastoralism. The station participated in a "Smart Farms" grant project to revitalize the Southern Rangelands, utilizing satellite remote sensing to monitor pasture levels. Furthermore, the project has been the subject of significant legal proceedings (Australian Vanadium Limited v Cousens), where the proponents objected to a mining company's application for a license over the station. This case highlighted the complex intersection of land rights, arguing that the mining activities could interfere with the carbon project and pastoral operations, a significant precedent for land use conflict in Western Australia.