The Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative Inc. has developed a practical new booklet to help producers better understand emissions calculators and the role biodiversity plays in productive, resilient farming systems.
Originally created to support field days and workshops, the booklet also works as a standalone resource that producers can use at their own pace. It brings together accessible information on emissions accounting and biodiversity, helping producers strengthen their knowledge and apply it in ways that suit their business and landscape.
The resource reflects the collaboration and effort of the Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative Inc. in creating a practical engagement tool for producers. Whether used alongside a workshop or independently, it supports informed on-farm decision-making and helps producers demonstrate their environmental stewardship.
Biodiversity in Action Across the Gascoyne and Pilbara
The Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative’s Biodiversity in Action project is helping pastoralists better understand the role biodiversity plays in healthy, productive rangelands through practical, producer-led field days.
The project engages pastoralists through targeted, practical activities designed for the realities of managing large, remote stations. It works with producers who are actively managing country and seeking to improve land condition, biodiversity and business resilience. Two properties host site visits, monitoring and training, providing real-world examples of biodiversity in pastoral systems. The hands-on, peer-driven approach encourages landholder ownership, practical learning and long-term understanding, with the aim of integrating biodiversity monitoring into standard station operations.
Lyndon Station
At Lyndon Station, approximately 220 hectares surrounding a natural lake were fenced in early 2021 to remove grazing pressure from cattle. Historically, the area was a highly attractive watering point and grazing site, with as many as 25,000 sheep using it in the past. Protecting this ecologically valuable part of the landscape has allowed natural processes to recover, while also creating a place the family now enjoys for sunset picnics and observing birdlife, particularly before and after rainfall.
The benefits of fencing have extended beyond the lake itself. Landholders have observed positive changes within the protected area and across the surrounding landscape, demonstrating how relatively small management changes can influence broader landscape function.
A second biodiversity site at Lyndon protects an area of ginggai, or crabhole country. This smaller exclusion area was also fenced in 2021 after heavy historical grazing pressure from sheep and, later, cattle. While several dry years limited visible change, rainfall associated with Tropical Cyclone Narelle in March 2026 highlighted the value of protecting these fragile soils. By the June field day, participants could clearly see increased soil cracking and improved soil condition, with the ground described as feeling almost like a pillow underfoot.
Preventing grazing while the soils were wet has allowed the landscape to respond naturally, while still enabling strategic use of the area as an overnight holding yard for a few hundred cattle once a year.
To find out more email Merri King, Landcare Agriculture Coordinator on [email protected]
