Native Conifer Carbon Sink Project 01

Native Conifer Carbon Sink Project 01 is an environmental planting project located approximately 5km east of Ravenshoe in the Atherton Tablelands region of Far North Queensland. It was registered in December 2012 and covers a project area of 36.26 hectares.

Environmental planting projects under this methodology involve establishing permanent plantings of a mix of native tree species on land that was previously cleared of forest for at least five years prior to the project commencing. These plantings must use locally native tree species and are planted at a sufficient stocking density to achieve a permanent forest cover.

The Ravenshoe and broader Atherton Tablelands area is well known for dairy farming, beef cattle grazing, and forestry operations. The area experiences high tropical rainfall, enjoying a climate of cool, dry winters and warm, wet summers, and the soils are generally highly fertile red basalt and clay.

The project proponent, Native Conifer Carbon Sink Pty Ltd, took over the project from Select Carbon Pty Ltd in March 2015. Interestingly, the proponent has been actively involved in several other regional and forestry innovations. They partnered with the Tablelands Regional Council to secure a Land Restoration Fund grant for planting native pines to reduce sediment run-off flowing into the Great Barrier Reef. Furthermore, the company is developing autonomous forestry machinery using AI, GNSS, and LiDAR obstacle detection through a federally backed Australian Forest and Wood Innovations project known as SilvaNaut.