This project is located West of Bourke in NSW in the Mulga Lands bioregion. The land consists of undulating red soils and floodplains from the Warrego creek. The dominant species observed on the property from field surveys include Eremophila sturtii, Dodonaea viscosa, Eremophila mitchellii, Acacia victoriae, Acacia tetragonophylla, Acacia cambagei and Acacia aneura.

The objective of this project is to regenerate natural woodlands and shrublands. This is achieved by controlled grazing and feral animal management across the project area along with fencing upgrades. In addition to sequestering carbon, regeneration of native vegetation in the project area reverses land degradation caused by feral goats and livestock and stabilises soils reducing erosion.

The Project (EOP101262) was declared project under the ‘Human Induced Regeneration of a Permanent Even-Aged Forest 1.1’ methodology (2013 c1) (the Determination) and generates Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). This is the third version of the Human Induced Regeneration methodology.

The project has issued both Kyoto ACCUs and non-Kyoto ACCUs in accordance with the date the carbon sequestration occurred. Kyoto ACCUs are issued for all carbon sequestration which has occurred after 14 May 2013 and non-Kyoto ACCUs are issued for carbon sequestration that occurred prior to this date.

Methodology Determination	Human-Induced Regeneration of a Permanent Even-Aged Native Forest – 1.1 Methodology Determination 2013 c1
Project Declaration Date [1]	24 June 2015
Permanence Period	100 years
Baseline Period [2] (10 year period before project commencement)	January 1998 – December 2007
Baseline management (Management during the Baseline Period)	Suppression of development of forest cover through uncontrolled livestock grazing, uncontrolled feral animal populations. Confirmed by evidence.
Modelling Commencement Date [3] (Date at which sufficient regeneration had started in the CEA)	01 July 2008 Note: the method requires there to be some vegetation present, at the modelling commencement in order to confirm that the area has the capacity to regenerate.
Modelling Tool	Reforestation Modelling Tool
Audit	There has been 1 audit undertaken by registered Greenhouse and Energy Auditors which has confirmed the project complies with the Methodology Determination and the requirements of the CFI Act in all material respects for the period audited. The most recent audit report was issued on the 1 January 2016.

HIR project Carbon Estimation Areas

 

What are Carbon Estimation Areas?

A CEA is an area of land within a project area where the project activity or activities are being carried out to sequester carbon (for example, the cessation of mechanical or chemical clearing or management of timing and extent of grazing to enable regeneration of vegetation to forest) and for which ACCUs can be credited^[4].

These are the areas where project activities occur and where carbon abatement will be modelled applying standardised estimation formulae approved by the Clean Energy Regulator.  There can be one or many CEAs on a Project Area.

Each CEA must contain areas of eligible land greater than 0.2ha in size in which the project activities are implemented and which have started to become native forest through regeneration.

• Eligible Land is land that didn’t have forest cover during the baseline period (ie. the 10 years before project commencement) and which has been used or managed in a way that suppresses development of forest cover.
• A particular area of land has Forest cover if the land has an area of at least 0.2 of a hectare and has trees that are 2 metres or more in height and provide crown cover of at least 20% of the land.

 

Stratification of Myroolia HIR Project Area into CEAs

Stratification is the process of “demarcating the boundaries of CEAs from ineligible and non-implementation areas within a project area”^[5].

There are Guidelines setting out how Project Areas are stratified into CEAs.  These include rules about evidence, stratification and record keeping to support the requirements in the CFI Rule 2015 (2018 and 2019 Amendments) including key method eligibility requirements.

Stratification of the Myroolia HIR Project was carried out in accordance with the Determination and first reported to the Clean Energy Regulator for a reporting period ending 31 December 2015.^[6]

A summary of the stratification of the Myroolia HIR Project is set out below:

Project Area	28,015 hectares
Number of Carbon Estimation Areas (CEA) [7]	2
Total Carbon Estimation Areas (CEA)Size	17,842 hectares
Total area excluded from CEA	10,174 hectares
Excluded from CEA – Pre-existing forest cover (forest present at any time during the baseline period)	2,155 hectares
Excluded from CEA No forest potential (areas of land that do not meet the requirements of forest potential)	7,999 hectares
Excluded from CEA Non-project area (areas of land that are within the project area but excluded for other reason e.g. infrastructure or areas excluded for production purposes)	20 hectares

This map shows the project area boundary and the different elements of project design including the carbon estimation areas and exclusion areas. This stratification may reflect both initial stratification and subsequent revisions.

In order to inform the initial stratification of the Myroolia HIR Project in accordance with the Determination, GreenCollar carried out field surveys and data collection. This included collection of data on existing vegetation species, photos and a detailed site description.

Satellite imagery and remote sensing datasets were used to identify eligible land and exclusion areas. The extent of exclusion areas (totalling 10,174 ha), comprised of pre-existing forest cover (2,155 ha) and areas which classified as having no forest potential (7,999 ha). Through this process a final eligible CEA area of 17,842 ha was confirmed.

This maps shows a current satellite image of the project area.  Satellite imagery and remote sensing datasets were used to identify eligible land and exclusion areas.