Bush Heritage Hamelin Regeneration Project

Bush Heritage Hamelin Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located at the Hamelin Station Reserve near the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, approximately 100km southeast of Denham in Western Australia. It was registered in September 2020 and covers 189,695.87 ha, though a variation in August 2025 removed some listed areas from the project.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve establishing permanent even-aged native forests by removing or suppressing activities that prevent natural regrowth. The standard requirement for this methodology is that the land must have been cleared of vegetation and regrowth suppressed for at least 10 years, allowing native trees to successfully regenerate from in-situ seed sources, rootstock, and lignotubers.

The Shark Bay and Gascoyne region is historically known for pastoral grazing operations, particularly merino sheep, though it is increasingly shifting toward conservation and tourism. The area is classified as semi-arid with low typical rainfall, and the soils generally consist of sandplains supporting Acacia-dominated shrublands, coastal samphire, and eucalypt woodlands with a spinifex hummock understorey.

This project was set up to heal the historical pastoral landscape through assisted regeneration by strictly excluding livestock and humanely managing feral animals. To support the carbon project's goals, Bush Heritage Australia constructed an 84km stock-proof fence and decommissioned artificial watering points to prevent feral goats and sheep from migrating onto the reserve and impacting vegetation recovery. Interestingly, the project area abuts Hamelin Pool, a location globally renowned for its active marine stromatolites, which are microbial structures that provide some of the earliest fossil evidence of life on Earth.