Gundabooka Human Induced Regeneration Project

The Gundabooka Human Induced Regeneration Project is a large-scale vegetation project located approximately 75km south-southwest of Bourke in the Far West region of New South Wales. Registered in May 2023, the project encompasses 16,303 hectares of land within the Shire of Bourke. The project is situated in the Mulga Lands bioregion, an area historically dominated by rangeland grazing of sheep, cattle, and goats.

This project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) methodology. Unlike environmental planting projects where seedlings are manually planted, HIR relies on facilitating natural regeneration from in-situ seed sources (such as soil seed banks, rootstock, or lignotubers). The primary activity involves changes in land management to stop the suppression of regrowth, specifically by managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing and controlling feral animals like goats that consume young vegetation. To generate credits, the land must transition from a suppressed state to achieving permanent native forest cover (defined as trees reaching 2 meters in height with 20% canopy cover).

The environment in this region is classified as semi-arid, with annual rainfall averaging between 300mm and 360mm, though it is highly variable. The soils are typically red earths and sandy loams, often characterized by "hard red" profiles common to the Cobar Peneplain. The native vegetation naturally supported by these soils includes Mulga (Acacia aneura), Bimble Box, and White Cypress Pine.

The proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, is a subsidiary of GreenCollar, Australia's largest environmental markets developer. The project name "Gundabooka" likely refers to the pastoral station on which it is located, which shares its name with the nearby Gundabooka National Park. This area of NSW is a significant hub for HIR projects, as the landscape responds robustly to grazing management, allowing native woodlands to recover after decades of intensive pastoral pressure.