Orange Creek Station

Orange Creek Station is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 90km south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Registered in September 2023, the project covers a massive area of 234,642 hectares.

The region is characterized by an arid to semi-arid climate, typical of Central Australia, with landscapes dominated by level to undulating sand plains. The local environment features "massive red earths" and sandy soils (Red Kandosols and Tenosols) supporting vegetation such as spinifex (Triodia) grasslands, Acacia, and Allocasuarina trees. Historically, the property has been a large-scale cattle breeding operation, well-known for producing Hereford and Santa Gertrudis cattle, and includes a small irrigated hay farm for fodder production.

The project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration methodology, which involves changes in land management to facilitate the regrowth of native forest. For Orange Creek Station, this primarily involves managing the timing and extent of grazing to suppress livestock pressure, thereby allowing native vegetation to regenerate from in-situ seed sources like rootstock and lignotubers.

An interesting facet of this property is its extensive infrastructure; prior to the carbon project's registration, the station was noted for its development of solar-powered bores and a 100kW solar system. The property was also listed for sale in early 2024, highlighting its dual value as both a pastoral and carbon farming asset managed by the proponent, AI Carbon.