Western Australia Rangelands Conservation Initiative Site #19

Western Australia Rangelands Conservation Initiative Site #19 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, approximately 110km southeast of the coastal town of Carnarvon. Registered in August 2021, the project covers a substantial area of 80,583 hectares. The site sits within the arid rangelands, a landscape historically dominated by pastoral leases used for sheep and cattle grazing.

The Gascoyne region is characterized by a semi-arid to arid climate with low and variable rainfall, averaging around 200mm annually. The terrain typically features broad, flat valleys and low ranges with soils consisting largely of red sandy earths, shallow lithosols, and alluvial clays near river systems like the Wooramel. These environmental conditions support hardy native vegetation such as mulga woodlands and saltbush, which this project aims to regenerate.

This project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration methodology. Unlike environmental planting, HIR does not involve manually planting trees. Instead, it focuses on land management changes, specifically the control of livestock grazing and feral animals, to stop the suppression of native vegetation. By managing the timing and extent of grazing, the project allows existing rootstock and seeds in the soil to regenerate into permanent native forest. This specific site is part of a broader conservation initiative by Terra Carbon designed to restore ecological health across Western Australia's pastoral rangelands.