Lower Hunter Recycled Water Initiative - Tree Planting for Carbon Offset

Lower Hunter Recycled Water Initiative - Tree Planting for Carbon Offset is an environmental planting project located across the Hunter Region in NSW, with key sites near Dungog and Port Stephens, roughly 50km north of Newcastle. It was registered in October 2013 and originally covers an active area of 245.12ha.

Environmental planting projects involve establishing permanent plantings of native trees on land that has been cleared of forest for at least five years. These methodologies typically require a planting density sufficient to achieve a continuous forest canopy, often around 200 stems per hectare, and utilise the Reforestation Modelling Tool to calculate carbon sequestration over the project's life.

The Hunter Region catchments are widely used for dairy farming, cattle grazing, agriculture, and water storage. The broader coastal area generally experiences moderate to high rainfall with soils ranging from clay loams to alluvial plains near swamps. However, the official project registration notes that these specific mallee tree plantings are restricted to areas receiving no more than 600mm of average annual rainfall.

This project was initiated by the Hunter Water Corporation to offset the carbon footprint of its Lower Hunter Recycled Water Initiative. It involves planting approximately 300,000 native trees and shrubs across water catchment lands near Grahamstown Dam, Chichester Dam, and Irrawang Swamp. In May 2026, the project underwent a variation that removed some previously listed areas from the project boundaries.