Great Eastern Wheatbelt Reforestation

Great Eastern Wheatbelt Reforestation is a significant environmental and mallee planting project located in the Eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The project covers a vast expanse of approximately 103,893 hectares, spanning a dispersed area roughly 300km northeast of Perth. The project coordinates indicate a corridor or aggregation of properties stretching from near Perenjori in the northwest, down through the Mount Marshall shire (near Bencubbin and Mukinbudin), towards Southern Cross in the southeast. Registered in September 2025, this large-scale initiative is managed by Carbon Neutral Pty Ltd.

The project operates under the "Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings-FullCAM" methodology (2024 determination). This involves establishing permanent plantings of native tree and shrub species, specifically mallee eucalypts and mixed environmental species, on land that was previously cleared for agriculture. The methodology requires maintaining these plantings to achieve forest cover, typically with specific stocking densities designed to mimic the structure of the local native vegetation community.

The Eastern Wheatbelt region is traditionally known for broadacre cropping (wheat, barley, canola) and sheep grazing. However, it is a marginal agricultural zone characterized by a semi-arid climate with low rainfall (approximately 300-350mm annually). The environment features ancient, deeply weathered soils ranging from sandy loams to heavy clays, with significant issues related to dryland salinity. By reforesting this landscape, the project aims to sequester carbon while simultaneously combating soil degradation and restoring habitat in a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot.

This project appears to be a major extension or parallel initiative to Carbon Neutral Pty Ltd’s flagship "Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor," which aims to connect inland vegetation with the coast. The sheer size of the project area suggests it involves the conversion of large pastoral leases or a significant aggregation of marginal farmland, highlighting a shift toward carbon farming as a primary land use in the region.