Western Australia Rangelands Conservation Initiative Site #22

Western Australia Rangelands Conservation Initiative Site #22 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the Upper Gascoyne local government area of Western Australia. It was registered in February 2022 and covers an expansive area of 346,395.27 hectares. The broader Gascoyne region is historically known for its large-scale pastoral operations, where the primary land use is running sheep and cattle across vast rangeland stations.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve establishing permanent, even-aged native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, such as rootstock and lignotubers. To meet the methodology's standard requirements, this regeneration must occur on land that was previously cleared of vegetation and where regrowth was actively suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project commencing. By removing the suppressors, the native vegetation is allowed to regenerate and eventually achieve forest cover.

The environment in the Gascoyne region is characterized by a semi-arid to arid climate with highly variable, low average annual rainfall of around 200mm to 230mm, which frequently leads to vegetative drought. Soils in this district are typically alluvial, ranging from sodic clays to red sandy earth and clayey sands. To successfully achieve native forest regeneration in these conditions, this project actively manages the timing and the extent of livestock grazing, alongside the humane management of feral animals, to reduce overall browsing pressure on the recovering vegetation.

An interesting note about this project is that the proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, operates as a subsidiary of the GreenCollar Group, one of Australia's most prominent environmental market developers. In December 2025, a variation was applied to the project where specific areas were removed from the registered boundary. In large-scale aggregated HIR projects, these reductions often result from mandatory "gateway checks," where land portions deemed unlikely to reach the necessary forest cover requirements are excised to maintain the integrity of the carbon credits being generated.