Western Australia Rangelands Conservation Initiative Site #5

Western Australia Rangelands Conservation Initiative Site #5 is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, approximately 35km southwest of Gascoyne Junction and 150km east of Carnarvon. It was registered in August 2020 and covers a vast 68,857.58 ha.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects capture carbon by changing land management practices to allow native forests to naturally regrow on land where vegetation has been actively suppressed for at least 10 years. Standard requirements dictate that the native forest is established through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, such as rootstock and lignotubers, and expressly prohibits the manual planting of trees or seedlings. Proponents achieve this by ceasing destructive activities, managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing, and controlling feral animals in a humane manner.

The Gascoyne region is heavily utilized for pastoral leases, with large-scale sheep and cattle grazing dominating the rangelands. The environment is characterized by an arid to semi-arid climate, experiencing low and highly variable rainfall that averages around 200mm annually. The typical soils supporting the native mulga and spinifex range from red sandy earths and alluvial plains to calcareous stony soils and clay loams.

The project's proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, is a subsidiary of GreenCollar, which is Australia's largest environmental market developer. Although the HIR methodology was closed to new project registrations in late 2023, projects that were registered prior to this date, such as this one, remain active and continue to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for the duration of their crediting period.