The Cobar Biocoke Project
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Following a century of unsustainable land management practices, the Cobar Peneplain of Western NSW has become heavily infested with woody weeds known as ‘Invasive Native Scrub’ (INS).
As the image above shows, once INS has outcompeted the native pasture, soil cover becomes non-existent, creating erosion risk and materially reducing biodiversity. Under the NSW Land Management Code, INS is typically burned¹.
¹https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/685222/managing-invasive-native-scrub.pdf
Environmental rehabilitation of INS-infested areas across Australia produce vast quantities of biomass which is either burned or left to rot. Wundowie’s Cobar Biocoke Project will use part of that biomass resource to produce biocoke, every tonne of which will keep 1.4t of fossil carbon and up to 25kg of methane in the ground.
Cobar Horse & Cattle (ca. 1950): Pre-INS infestation.
Source: Noel McDarra, Meryula Station Cobar.
Image clarity enhanced using AI.
Locked Cyprus Pine (August 2025): Erosion of native pastures and biodiversity as a result of INS proliferation.
Source: Wundowie Carbon, taken on-site.
Cobar Rehabilitation (ca. 2008): An image showing a Cobar area rehabilitated to native pastures post-INS treatment.
Source: Local Land Services
Once rehabilitated to a mosaic of native pastures with open woodlands in line with pre-European settlement, the CSIRO has found that such activity results in increased biodiversity amongst bird populations and NSW Local Land Services has noted that pasture productivity typically improves by 300%²
²The Delicate and Noxious Scrub: CSIRO Studies on Native Tree and Shrub Proliferation in the Semi-Arid Woodlands of Eastern Australia (JC Noble)