Warroora Station

Warroora Station (formerly known as AIC HIR WA Project 4) is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, approximately 177 km north of Carnarvon and 18 km south of Coral Bay. Registered in March 2021, the project spans a substantial 105,209.06 hectares. The regional land use is historically pastoral, with Warroora Station primarily operating as a family-run cattle station. Additionally, the property operates as an eco-tourism destination offering station stays and camping.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects aim to establish permanent, even-aged native forests by altering land management practices to allow native vegetation to recover. Standard methodology dictates that the regenerating forest must have the potential to achieve a height of at least 2 metres with a minimum 20% crown cover. For the Warroora Station project, this is actively achieved by managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing. This approach allows assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, such as dormant rootstock and lignotubers, on land that was previously cleared of vegetation and where natural regrowth had been suppressed by grazing for at least 10 years.

The local environment features an arid, semi-desert to subtropical climate characterised by highly variable annual rainfall averaging between 200 to 300 mm. Precipitation in the region typically comes from irregular, sometimes heavy, summer cyclones, or lighter winter rain systems. The region's soils generally consist of coastal calcareous sands along the dune systems, transitioning inland into clayey siltstone and sedimentary soils overlaying the Gascoyne Platform.

An interesting fact about the project area is that Warroora Station boasts 50 kilometres of pristine ocean frontage running directly alongside the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef Marine Park. On July 4, 2024, the carbon project formally updated its registered name from the generic 'AIC HIR WA Project 4' to 'Warroora Station' to reflect the property's historic pastoral name.