Wiggera Regeneration Project

Wiggera Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 110km west of Cunnamulla in Southwest Queensland. Registered in August 2020, the project covers a substantial area of 14,021 hectares within the Paroo Shire. The property is situated in the Mulga Lands bioregion, an area historically dominated by pastoral leases for sheep and cattle grazing, which remains the primary land use in the district.

The project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration methodology, which differs significantly from tree planting projects. Instead of planting seedlings, this method involves changing land management practices, specifically managing the timing and extent of grazing and controlling feral animals, to allow native forests to regenerate naturally from existing seed stocks and root systems. The project area likely consists of open woodland that had been suppressed for at least 10 years prior to registration, with the aim of restoring a permanent even-aged native forest.

The environment in this region is classified as semi-arid, characterized by hot summers and variable, summer-dominant rainfall averaging around 300mm to 350mm annually. The soils are typical of the Mulga Lands, consisting largely of extensive red earth plains and sandy loams. The vegetation is dominated by Mulga (Acacia aneura) woodlands and shrublands, often intermixed with Poplar Box and other eucalypt species. This specific ecosystem is well-adapted to drought but requires careful management of grazing pressure to ensure young trees can establish themselves without being browsed by livestock or feral goats.