Restoring Peniup Creek in South-West Western Australia

Diverse Carbon Plantings are helping to restore Peniup Creek

Restoration occurs one tree, one paddock, one creek at a time, but this must happen across many paddocks and kilometres of creek and river frontages. Scale is so important. Restoration must meet the scale of degradation caused by over clearing and the massive demands of agriculture. To match the scale of degradation, a commercial scale solution is needed. Carbon markets (globally and nationally) have the potential to provide commercial scale restoration of degraded catchments. Such potential is being tested in the southern corner of the West Australian wheat belt.

The story begins with an engrossing vision:

“Reconnected country across south-western Australia, from the Karri forest of the SW corner to the woodlands and mallee bordering the Nullarbor plain, in which ecosystem function and biodiversity are restored and maintained.”

This community based vision and network of diverse organisations is showing how restoration can be accomplished at scale.

Tapping into the carbon market is one strategy that started back in the mid 2000s. At that time Greening Australia and Bush Heritage Australia, with assistance from a diversity of philanthropic donors, including The Nature Conservancy, purchased a handful of farm properties between the Stirling Ranges National Park and the Fitzgerald River National Park, all within the a globally significant Biodiversity Hotspot (see map above). Both organisations took on the monumental task of restoring thousands of hectares of degraded farmland within the Pallinup River catchment, including the Peniup and Carackerup Creeks. Greening Australia pursued the emerging Australian carbon market with vigour, and managed to secure early funding from commercial companies seeking voluntary carbon offsets. More recently Greening Australia has secured funding from the Australian Government’s Biodiversity Fund which is part of the Clean Energy Future Plan. This funding is supporting restoration of over 800 ha on the Peniup property with frontage onto Peniup Creek.