NT Cattle Conservation HIR Project #02142022 IDR

NT Cattle Conservation HIR Project #02142022 IDR is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located at Idracowra Station, approximately 160km south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The project was registered in December 2022 and covers a vast area of 466,041 hectares, situated within the Finke River catchment. The "IDR" in the project title identifies the specific property, Idracowra, which lies near the Stuart Highway and is transected by the Ghan Railway line.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve implementing land management changes to facilitate the regrowth of native forests on land where vegetation has been historically suppressed. For this project, the proponent, Regenco Pty Ltd, works with landholders to manage grazing timing and extent, control feral animals, and manage non-native plants. These activities allow native vegetation, primarily mulga and other arid-zone species, to regenerate and sequester carbon.

The region is characterized by an arid to semi-arid climate with low, irregular rainfall and soils that are predominantly red earth and sandy loams typical of Central Australia. The land use is primarily extensive cattle grazing on pastoral leases. An interesting feature of this project is Regenco's partnership with Agronomeye to create a "digital twin" of the station using airborne LiDAR technology. This advanced monitoring approach sets a high benchmark for verifying carbon sequestration and managing risks such as wildfire, which significantly impacted approximately 9,350 hectares of the project area shortly after its inception.