Lake Barlee Regeneration Project

Lake Barlee Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at Lake Barlee Station, approximately 130km south-west of Sandstone in Western Australia's Mid West and Goldfields regions. It was registered in November 2018 and covers a massive 127,425.48 hectares. The surrounding Sandstone area is predominantly arid rangeland known for broadacre pastoral operations, mainly extensive cattle grazing, intertwined with mineral exploration and mining.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve establishing permanent, even-aged native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, including natural rootstock and lignotubers. A key methodology requirement is that the project land must have been previously cleared of vegetation and had its natural regrowth suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project commencing. The core activity for this project is actively managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing to eliminate this suppression and allow the native flora to naturally recover.

The environment in the Lake Barlee region is classified as arid to semi-arid, experiencing a very low and erratic average annual rainfall of approximately 250-260mm. The soil types across the vast pastoral lease range from red deep sandy duplex soils and mulga loams on the higher plains to highly saline clays, calcretes, and gypseous soils associated with the expansive salt lake system.

Interestingly, the project footprint covers sections of Lake Barlee itself, which is the second-largest lake in Western Australia. It is an intermittent hypersaline lake that typically only fills once a decade following heavy cyclonic rains. When inundated, it temporarily transforms into a vital breeding ground for waterbirds such as the Banded Stilt. The carbon project was set up to operate alongside a reduced cattle herd (historically carrying up to 1,100 cattle units), establishing the station as a dual-income pastoral and carbon enterprise. Additionally, in March 2024, a variation was processed to update the project participant name from Terrence Stevens to Red Dirt Pastoral Pty Ltd as trustee for Mt Jackson Station Unit Trust.