Bush Heritage Hamelin Regeneration Project

Bush Heritage Hamelin Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at Hamelin Station Reserve, approximately 130km north of Kalbarri in Western Australia's Shark Bay region. Registered in September 2020, the project originally covered an expansive 189,695.87 hectares, though a variation in August 2025 formally removed some specific areas from the project boundaries.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve establishing permanent native forests by changing land management practices to encourage the regrowth of native trees from in-situ seed sources, including rootstock and lignotubers. Under this methodology, the land must have been previously cleared of vegetation and the regrowth suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project's commencement. Standard requirements typically dictate that the regenerating area must have the potential to reach native forest cover, usually defined as at least 20% crown cover and 2 meters in height. To achieve this regeneration, the primary project activities at Hamelin Station include the permanent exclusion of livestock and the humane management of feral animals.

The Shark Bay region is classified as a semi-arid desert and xeric shrubland, historically dominated by broadacre pastoral grazing operations. Hamelin Station operated as a merino sheep station for many years before being acquired by Bush Heritage Australia in March 2015 for dedicated conservation purposes. The environment experiences low rainfall and features red dirt, expansive sandplains, and remote claypans. These soils support Acacia-dominated shrublands, samphire shrublands, mallee, and eucalypt woodlands with a prominent spinifex hummock understorey.

Interestingly, the project sits directly adjacent to the Shark Bay World Heritage Area and Hamelin Pool, a site globally famous for its rare, three-billion-year-old marine stromatolites. The ongoing carbon regeneration and extensive fence removal efforts support remarkable terrestrial biodiversity, serving as critical habitat for threatened and unique fauna. This includes the vulnerable Hamelin skink, Priority-listed legless lizards, and the Western Grasswren, which have been successfully monitored and translocated around the reserve.