Montdown Tree Farms Plantation Project (Revoked)

Montdown Tree Farms Plantation Project (Revoked) is a plantation forestry project located in the Sorell municipality, approximately 40km east of Hobart in south-east Tasmania. It was registered in May 2018 and covers an area of 204.21 ha.

Plantation forestry projects generate carbon credits by establishing new plantations, transitioning existing plantations from short-rotation to long-rotation, or maintaining a pre-existing plantation forest. Standard requirements for these projects include maintaining minimum tree stocking densities, adhering to specific management regimes, and ensuring the trees are ultimately commercially harvested for wood products. This specific project aimed to sequester carbon by converting an existing short-rotation plantation forest to a long-rotation plantation.

The Sorell region is a well-established agricultural hub known for sheep and cattle grazing, broadacre cropping, and commercial forestry. The south-east coast of Tasmania features a cool-temperate climate with relatively low typical rainfall (averaging 500–700mm annually) compared to the rest of the state. The soils supporting these agricultural activities generally consist of sandy loams, heavier clays, and some basalt-derived ferrosols.

An interesting note about this project is that it was originally contracted in June 2018 to deliver 195,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to the Commonwealth (Contract CAC924034). However, the contract lapsed or was terminated by January 2021, and the project was officially revoked in June 2021 under section 30 of the CFI Rule. Despite this, the project proponent, Robert Bruce Downie (acting as Trustee for the Montdown Family Trust), remains active in the carbon and forestry sectors, having recently registered newer plantation projects (such as the Landari Uplands projects) elsewhere in Tasmania.