Yaloak Estate Environmental Plantings #3 Project (Revoked)

The Yaloak Estate Environmental Plantings #3 Project (Revoked) was an environmental reforestation initiative located on the Yaloak Estate, approximately 15 kilometers south of Ballan and 60 kilometers west of Melbourne, Victoria. Registered in March 2015, the project covered a substantial area of 5,741 hectares. The region is historically significant for broad-acre agriculture, specifically sheep grazing and cropping, and lies within the volcanic plains west of Melbourne.

The project operated under the Carbon Farming Initiative using the "Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings (FullCAM)" methodology. This method involves establishing permanent plantings of native tree species, such as Eucalyptus cladocalyx (Sugar Gum) and Corymbia maculata (Spotted Gum), which were utilized in sibling projects on the same estate, on land previously cleared for agriculture. The goal is to sequester carbon by restoring forest cover at a density sufficient to achieve canopy closure, typically requiring stocking densities of roughly 200 to 400 stems per hectare depending on the specific method variation.

Environmental conditions at Yaloak Estate are characterized by the High Rainfall Zone (HRZ) of Victoria, typically receiving over 500mm of annual rainfall. The soil composition is predominantly duplex Sodosol, consisting of fertile basalt clay-loam topsoil overlying heavy, sodic clay subsoils. These "hostile" subsoils have been the subject of significant agricultural research on the property regarding subsoil manuring to improve crop yields.

Notably, this project was revoked in March 2017, just two years after registration. The Yaloak Estate itself is a major rural holding that also hosts the Yaloak South Wind Farm. The property was sold in 2020 for approximately $60 million to Harvest Agriculture. The revocation of this and other concurrent carbon projects on the estate (such as Yaloak Estate Carbon Plantings #1 and Yaloak Estate Carbon Plantings #2) suggests a strategic realignment of land management practices or a transition to different carbon methodologies, such as the soil carbon projects also registered on the property.