CFI project approved for Fish River Station

Fish River Station has received approval to carry out a savanna burning project under the Carbon Farming Initiative. The project start date was backdated to 1 January 2011, as allowed under this specific methodology. They will now start to pull together their first report detailing reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (abatement) achieved in 2011 and 2012. I spoke to Fish River Station manager Shaun Ansell about the project back in October.

Annual abatement is calculated by subtracting the net annual emissions from the baseline emissions, which is the amount of emissions expected to occur if management was not changed. Baseline emissions are calculated by averaging annual emissions over ten years before the project commenced. During Fish River’s baseline period of 2000-2009, 69% of the 180,000ha property burnt on average each year, with half of these fires occurring in the early dry season and half in the late dry season. This resulted in an average of 24,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions each year. This has been reduced by an average of 13,000 tonnes over the first two years of the project.

Fish River modelled future performance on an annual reduction in emissions of 40% (13,600 tonnes) below the baseline which they think is achievable year by year. Using a wide range of pricing scenarios (as low as $2 / tonne), they haven’t seen a cause to not conduct the project. At worst they expect to just cover costs. They expect that associated benefits including biodiversity benefits and indigenous employment will help them achieve a premium price.

The viability of projects is dependent on the baseline, or extent and season of fire over previous years (emissions from early dry season fires are generally lower than late dry season), and the ability to improve management. Fire management at Fish River station during their baseline period was relatively minimal. So far this year, 41% of the property has been burnt during the early dry season, similar to a baseline year, but they have not had any late fires, whereas in a baseline year another 35% would have burnt in the late dry.

Shaun said that savanna burning projects are unlikely to be an El Dorado, but they may provide opportunities to diversify income and offset land management costs.

To get the project up, Fish River Station first had to become a Registered Offset Entity (required to establish a project and receive credits) and set up an ANREU (Australian National Registry of Emissions Units – tracks the location and ownership of credits). Shaun said that this was a fairly involved but was complicated due to ILC’s statutory status.   

Technical science staff previously hosted by Bushfires NT (now working from Charles Darwin University) mapped vegetation types to the scale required by the savanna burning methodology. On Fish River over 95% of the property has eligible vegetation types under the methodology (ineligible types including wetlands, jungle and cleared areas were excluded from the project).  Scientists then applied a fire history to the different classes of vegetation using 10 years of satellite imagery to calculate baseline emissions. 

Vegetation mapping can utilise existing maps such as land unit mapping as building blocks. While there is a lack of experienced professionals to validate maps, steps in this process have been published.

Fish River’s fire management involves burning along strategic boundaries in April, followed by prescribed burns throughout the interior of the property to buffer pre-existing breaks such as roads, tracks and creek-lines. In areas with fewer “breaks" it may be harder to limit the size of fires and may risk burning too large an area.

Managers initially target older senescent grasses more than one year old. If these areas are left until that wet season’s growth has also senesced, the fuel load may be too big and patchy burns, which reduce emissions, may be harder to achieve. This means that burns are planned according to the previous two years of fire history.

Early dry season burning can lead to some woody thickening. The methodology does not stop managers from implementing late dry season burns to control woody regrowth. However, in years that late dry season fires occur, fewer credits may be earned. There is no penalty if annual emissions exceed the baseline, and the voluntary scheme allows landholders to opt out at any time.