Yarraquin Station Regeneration Project

The Yarraquin Station Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 7km east of the town of Cue in the Murchison region of Western Australia. Registered in May 2019, the project covers a massive expanse of 128,514 hectares. The project is undertaken by proponents Lorraine Patricia Breese and Peter William Savage, with the assistance of carbon service provider Select Carbon Pty Ltd (now a subsidiary of Shell).

The Murchison region is a dedicated pastoral district, historically dominated by sheep grazing but increasingly transitioning to cattle, as is the case with Yarraquin Station. The environment is semi-arid to arid, characterized by erratic rainfall averaging around 250mm annually, which often falls in winter or via summer thunderstorms. The landscape features low hills, breakaways, and broad alluvial plains with soils ranging from red earths and sandy loams to shallow soils over granite. The vegetation is predominantly Mulga (Acacia aneura) woodlands and shrublands, which this project aims to regenerate.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects in this context involve changes to land management practices to allow suppressed native vegetation to recover and become permanent forest. On Yarraquin Station, this is achieved by managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing and controlling feral animals (such as goats) that eat young seedlings. By relieving this grazing pressure, the native Mulga and understorey species can regenerate from in-situ seed sources like rootstock and lignotubers. Notably, the station has historical significance in the area, containing the "Yarraquin Stand and Ruins," remnants of early pastoral settlement infrastructure.