Winbar Human Induced Regeneration Project

The Winbar Human Induced Regeneration Project is a large-scale vegetation project located at Winbar Station, a historic pastoral property situated along the Darling River. The project area is positioned approximately 40 kilometers southwest of the small town of Louth and roughly 130 kilometers southwest of the major regional service center of Bourke in the Western Division of New South Wales. Registered on May 1, 2023, the project covers a substantial area of 10,988 hectares. The region is traditionally utilized for extensive grazing of sheep, cattle, and goats within the semi-arid rangelands.

This project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) methodology. Unlike environmental plantings which involve manual tree planting, HIR projects focus on assisting the natural regeneration of native forests from existing soil seed banks or suppressed rootstock. The primary mechanism for this specific project is the management of grazing pressure; by controlling the timing and extent of livestock grazing and managing feral animals (such as goats), the proponent aims to allow suppressed vegetation to recover and achieve permanent forest cover status, defined as 20% canopy cover at a height of at least two meters.

Environmentally, the Winbar area is classified as semi-arid, with a low average annual rainfall of approximately 300mm to 370mm. The landscape is characterized by the Darling Riverine Plains, featuring a mix of grey cracking clays on the floodplains and red sandy loams or red earth further from the river. The vegetation typically consists of Mulga (Acacia aneura) communities on the red soils and Coolabah or Black Box woodlands near the watercourses.

Winbar Station itself holds significant heritage value, containing historic ruins such as 19th-century wool drying grounds that reflect its long history as a wool-producing property. The project proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, is a specialized advisory and aggregation firm that manages the project's compliance and reporting. The project has a nominated permanence period of 100 years, committing the land to maintaining the regenerated forest carbon stores for a century.