Zenith Regeneration Project

Zenith Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, situated approximately 85km northwest of the town of Menzies and 100km southwest of Leonora. Registered in March 2021, the project covers a substantial area of 394,905 hectares. The project area likely encompasses parts of several pastoral leases owned by the proponent, specifically Perrinvale Station, which aligns with the registered coordinates, as well as potentially Riverina, Jeedamya, and Melita stations.

The region is defined by its use for extensive pastoral grazing (rangelands) and mining operations. The environment is semi-arid to arid, characterized by low, irregular rainfall and red earth or sandy loam soils. The vegetation is typical of the "Mulga" lands, dominated by Acacia woodlands and shrublands (such as Acacia aneura) with an understorey of spinifex or native grasses. These landscapes are resilient but slow-growing, often requiring careful management of grazing pressure to allow young trees to establish.

The project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration methodology. This involves changes in land management to facilitate the regeneration of native forests from in-situ seed sources (soil seed banks and rootstock) where regrowth was previously suppressed, primarily by livestock and feral animals. By managing the timing and extent of grazing, the project aims to restore forest cover. Notably, the proponent, Zenith Australia Investment Holding Pty Ltd, is the Australian arm of the Chinese real estate conglomerate Shanghai CRED. The project is managed in partnership with Select Carbon, a carbon farming service provider acquired by Shell in 2020. At its inception, this aggregation of stations was touted as one of Australia's largest carbon farming initiatives, originally spanning over 1.2 million hectares before recent variations removed significant portions of land.