Innouendy Station

Innouendy Station is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located on a pastoral lease in the Murchison region of Western Australia, approximately 320km north of the town of Mullewa. Registered in March 2021, the project spans an impressive 223,643.99 hectares. The wider Murchison area is dominated by expansive pastoral stations, with regional land use heavily focused on sheep and cattle grazing.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve establishing permanent, even-aged native forests by altering land management practices. Under this methodology, the project relies on assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, such as rootstock and lignotubers. A key standard requirement for this project type is that the land must have been cleared of native vegetation and regrowth must have been actively suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project commencing. For Innouendy Station, the primary project activity is managing the timing and the extent of livestock grazing to relieve pressure on the land and allow native vegetation to recover.

The environment in the Murchison region is classified as arid to semi-arid, characterized by highly variable, low annual rainfall. The soils in the area generally consist of red sandy earths, hardpan plains, and ancient alluvial drainage channels.

Interestingly, Innouendy Station is situated directly over the Murchison palaeodrainage system. The groundwater calcrete aquifers beneath the station are known to host unique assemblages of subterranean invertebrates (stygofauna), which have been identified as a Priority 1 threatened ecological community by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority. Additionally, the carbon project underwent a name variation in August 2024, changing from its original registry name "AIC HIR WA Project 2" to "Innouendy Station", which better reflects its identity as an established Western Australian pastoral property.