Catchment Conservation Alliance - Great Barrier Reef Initiative Site #17

Catchment Conservation Alliance - Great Barrier Reef Initiative Site #17 is an avoided clearing project located approximately 30km southwest of Rockhampton and 14km northwest of Mount Morgan in Central Queensland. It was registered in November 2020 and covers 1532.58ha.

Avoided clearing of native regrowth projects involve protecting native forest that has previously been cleared and where there is a statutory right to clear it again. A standard requirement of this methodology is that the land must be managed to maintain and protect the native vegetation, which often involves monitoring and reducing livestock stocking densities or utilizing rotational grazing to ensure cattle do not degrade the protected regrowing forest.

The Rockhampton and Mount Morgan region is heavily utilised for beef cattle production, which is the dominant land use. The area experiences a subtropical climate with a distinct wet and dry season, considered to have moderate rainfall averaging around 800mm annually. Soils in this region generally range from cracking clays (vertosols) to sandy loams.

This project was established to avoid the emissions associated with clearing native forest on land that has historically been subject to clearing, while also contributing to the broader environmental health and water quality of the Great Barrier Reef catchments. In January 2021, the project underwent a variation where specific areas listed in the original project boundaries were removed.