Zenith Regeneration Project

Zenith Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 85km west-northwest of Menzies and 190km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia's Goldfields region. Registered in March 2021, the project covers an expansive 394,905.28 hectares across several local pastoral stations, historically encompassing properties such as Mertondale, Riverina, Perrinvale, Clover Downs, Jeedamya, Melita, and Kookynie. The regional land use is heavily dominated by large-scale pastoral grazing (primarily cattle and sheep) as well as numerous historical and active mining operations.

The environment in the Shire of Menzies is typically semi-arid with a Mediterranean climate. The local landscape features red sandy soils that support woodlands of red mallee, salmon gum, and gimlet, interspersed with dense mulga shrublands and spinifex grasslands.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve the restoration of native forests by altering land management practices to cease activities that have previously suppressed tree growth, such as overgrazing by livestock or feral animals. For this specific project, permanent even-aged native forests are established through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources (including rootstock and lignotubers). This is achieved by carefully managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing on land that was originally cleared of vegetation and where regrowth had been suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project's commencement.

Interestingly, the proponent of the project, Zenith Australia Investment Holding Pty Ltd, is the Australian arm of Shanghai Cred, a Chinese real estate conglomerate that purchased several Goldfields cattle stations in 2016 for an estimated $25 million. Zenith partnered with project agent Select Carbon (which was acquired by oil major Shell in 2020) to manage the carbon farming efforts. When originally announced, the project was touted as one of Australia's largest carbon farming initiatives, planned to cover over 1.2 million hectares. However, variations made to the project area in July 2022 and March 2023 removed certain listed properties, bringing the final registered project size down to its current 394,905.28 hectares.