Catchment Conservation Alliance - Great Barrier Reef Initiative Site #23

Catchment Conservation Alliance - Great Barrier Reef Initiative Site #23 is an Avoided Clearing of Native Regrowth project located approximately 35km southwest of Rockhampton in Central Queensland. Registered on March 28, 2025, just days before the methodology's expiry, the project covers a substantial area of 1,366 hectares. The region is predominantly utilized for cattle grazing, characterized by open woodlands and grasslands that have historically been managed through periodic clearing to maintain pasture availability.

The project operates under the Avoided Clearing of Native Regrowth methodology. This framework allows landholders to generate carbon credits by voluntarily foregoing their legal right to clear native forest regrowth. To be eligible, the land must have a history of at least two previous clearing events for agricultural use and currently host regenerating forest that would otherwise be recleared. By protecting this vegetation, the project ensures carbon remains stored in the biomass and soil rather than being released into the atmosphere.

Environmentally, the site sits within the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, a region with a subtropical climate featuring hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters. The soils in this locality often consist of cracking clays and loams which, while fertile for grazing, are susceptible to erosion. A key co-benefit of this project is the stabilization of these soils, which reduces sediment runoff into local waterways that eventually feed into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, thereby improving water quality.

An interesting facet of this project is its proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, a subsidiary of GreenCollar. The "Catchment Conservation Alliance" acts as an aggregation vehicle, grouping multiple sites (such as #23) to deliver large-scale environmental outcomes. The project was registered just three days before the "Avoided Clearing" method was closed to new entrants, marking it as one of the final projects established under this specific determination.