This project is regenerating over 15,000 hectares of native forest across two merino sheep properties near Bourke in New South Wales. Considering an International Rugby field is about one hectare – that’s a pretty big area!

Most of the land is sandy red country mixed with flat plains of black soil, which now hosts regenerating forest alongside a healthy and happy herd of about 3,000 merino sheep. By introducing better land management and improving things like fences, the project has reduced grazing pressure and allowed the native forest to thrive. Native forest and super-soft merino wool? Don’t mind if I do!

If you ever imagined resting by a billabong under the cool shade of a Eucalypt tree, you may have just pictured this project. It sits on what’s known as semi-open flooded country, crisscrossed with channels and billabongs that are fed by the Paroo River, Cuttaburra and Kulkyne.

Sounds like a paradise doesn’t it? Unfortunately, rangeland goats, feral pigs and foxes thought so too, which put the native bushland under severe pressure. Thanks to this project – and for the best part of the last decade - 20,000 hectares of bush has been carefully protected and nurtured. The regenerating forest provides much needed habitat for native wildlife, shelter for livestock, and ensures the billabongs and eucalypts still look just like you imagined.

This project lies north of Bourke in New South Wales and is home to around 3,000 merino sheep alongside 12,500 hectares of regenerating acacia woodland and eucalypt forest.

The landscape here has it all – open woodlands and shrublands with a vast array of native grasses, trees and shrubs – some of which produce stunning wildflowers depending on the time of year.

The project has invested in water infrastructure to spread grazing pressure and better manage livestock, as well as state-of-the-art fencing to keep feral animals out and allow native plant life to regenerate. This in turn improves biodiversity in the area all while absorbing CO2 and storing carbon for years to come. What’s not to love?

Sitting on ancient land within Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef catchment area, the Catchment Conservation Alliance Great Barrier Reef Initiative Site 3 project is regenerating 2,300 hectares of native forest on land that’s historically been cleared for pasture. These days Eucalypt and Acacia trees are flourishing, providing shade for cattle and a thriving habitat for native wildlife including bearded dragons, blue-tongue lizards, galahs and wallabies. What’s more, by improving water retention on the land and reducing top-soil runoff, this project also directly improves water quality flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.