Wespine Carbon Plantations

Wespine Carbon Plantations is a plantation forestry project located across the South West region of Western Australia, spanning areas near Dardanup (approximately 15km inland from Bunbury), as well as Bridgetown, Donnybrook, and Boddington. It was registered in April 2018 and covers a total project area of 2,420.94 hectares. The South West region is renowned for its diverse agricultural land use, including cattle grazing, cropping, and horticulture, as well as extensive commercial timber and pine forestry operations. The regional environment typically features a Mediterranean climate with high winter rainfall, and the local soil types include lateritic ironstone gravels, sandy loams, and clay loams common to the Darling Scarp and coastal plains.

Plantation forestry projects operating under the 2022 Methodology Determination sequester carbon by establishing new plantation forests or converting existing short-rotation plantations into long-rotation forests for the commercial harvesting of wood products. These projects must meet standard commercial silviculture requirements, including maintaining appropriate stocking densities of trees that will yield viable harvested wood products while securely storing carbon over the rotation cycle.

The proponent, Wespine Industries Pty Ltd, is a major softwood sawmiller based in Dardanup. The company focuses on producing plantation-grown pine, which is typically managed on a 30-year rotation before harvesting and replanting. In addition to carbon sequestration, these pine plantations are recognized for supporting regional employment, filtering water, and helping to control land erosion and soil salinity. The project has undergone multiple variations to its project area, adding new land progressively across 2018, 2019, and 2025. Additionally, in August 2025, the project successfully transitioned its compliance from the older 2017 Plantation Forestry method to the updated 2022 methodology determination.