Data from 2022 shows that 78% of Queensland's cleared vegetation was regrowth, making it prevalent across the landscape. Despite this, regrowth remains poorly integrated into regulatory frameworks and environmental planning tools.
The study revealed that many species can begin using regrowth forests well before they reach maturity. On average, threatened species started using regrowth at around 15 years of age. For some, including seed-eating birds and koalas, regrowth can provide functional habitat in under a decade. In total, seven out of 30 species studied could use regrowth between just three and ten years of age.
This early-use potential is particularly relevant in regions like the Brigalow Belt, where extensive clearing has left only 8% of original vegetation intact—much of it now regrowth. In some cases, unregulated regrowth makes up as much as 33% of available habitat for individual species, such as the five-clawed worm-skink.
Despite its ecological importance, regrowth vegetation often falls outside current land clearing regulations in Queensland. The result: around 71% of the identified habitat loss for threatened species was from unregulated regrowth clearing.
As landholders and policymakers look toward more sustainable land management practices, regrowth forests could offer an avenue for low-cost, high-impact conservation—if they're better recognized in planning tools, policies, and offset frameworks.
Experts suggest that where threatened species are known to use regrowth vegetation—whether permanently or seasonally—that information should be systematically integrated into environmental impact assessments and recovery plans. Doing so would help ensure that regrowth areas are factored into land use decisions.
Since most regrowth exists on private land, stewardship initiatives have a critical role to play. Programs that support landowners to maintain and manage native vegetation could not only protect habitats but also provide economic benefits. Opportunities like carbon farming and biodiversity credit schemes are being explored as ways to finance conservation through market mechanisms, though these tools are still developing in scale and clarity.
Recognizing regrowth as a legitimate part of the conservation toolkit could shift how we balance development pressures with ecological responsibility—particularly in landscapes where little remnant vegetation remains.
