Wespine Carbon Plantations

Wespine Carbon Plantations is a plantation forestry project located across the South West region of Western Australia, with sites stretching south from Dardanup, roughly 15km inland from the major regional city of Bunbury. It was registered in April 2018 and covers 2,420.94 ha.

Plantation forestry projects involve establishing new plantation forests or converting short-rotation plantations to long-rotation forests for commercial harvesting. This method sequesters carbon by ensuring trees remain in the ground longer to absorb more atmospheric carbon before being harvested for sustainable wood products.

The South West region of WA is heavily utilized for forestry operations, dairy and beef cattle farming, and fruit orchards. The area is considered a high rainfall zone, typically receiving between 800mm and 1,000mm annually. Soils across the region generally consist of lateritic gravels, sandy loams, and heavier clay loams in the deeper valleys.

This project is managed by Wespine Industries Pty Ltd, a major regional softwood timber producer that operates a world-class sawmill in Dardanup West. The pine harvested from these plantations is processed locally into structural and packaging timber, including a termite- and rot-resistant product known as Wespine Blue. Since its inception, the project has varied its boundaries several times to add new plantation areas and recently updated its carbon crediting method to the 2022 Plantation Forestry Methodology.