Barnato Regeneration Project

The Barnato Regeneration Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at the 'Barnato' rural locality in New South Wales, approximately 115 kilometers west of the major township of Cobar along the Barrier Highway. Registered on March 28, 2022, the project covers a substantial area of 16,397 hectares. The region is situated within the Western Division of NSW, an area historically dominated by rangeland grazing of sheep, goats, and cattle on large pastoral leaseholds.

The project operates under the Carbon Farming Initiative's Human-Induced Regeneration methodology. This method is designed to regenerate native forests on land where vegetation growth has been suppressed for at least 10 years, typically by livestock or feral animals. To generate Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), the proponent manages the timing and extent of grazing to allow native seedlings, such as Mulga or Poplar Box, to recover and eventually achieve "forest cover." This requires the vegetation to reach a height of at least 2 meters and a canopy cover of 20%.

Environmentally, the Barnato area is classified as semi-arid, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 300mm to 350mm. The landscape is part of the Cobar Peneplain, characterized by rolling downs and low ridges with red earth soils (loams) and lithosols (skeletal soils). The regeneration of native vegetation in this dry landscape not only sequesters carbon but can also help stabilize these fragile soils and improve biodiversity corridors between the Darling River and the Cobar ranges.