2019 AGE CLASS, LIMESTONE PLANTATIONS

2019 Age Class, Limestone Plantations is a plantation forestry project located in the West Wimmera Shire of Victoria, situated approximately 25 kilometers northeast of Penola and just across the border from the South Australian Limestone Coast region. Registered in May 2018, the project covers a substantial area of 1,258 hectares within Australia's renowned "Green Triangle" forestry hub. The region is dominated by commercial forestry and grazing land uses, owing to its reliable climate and established timber processing infrastructure.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2017. Specifically, it employs the "conversion from short-term to long-term rotation" activity. This involves managing plantation trees (typically Radiata Pine in this region) to grow for a longer period to produce high-quality sawlogs for structural timber, rather than harvesting them earlier for lower-value pulpwood. By extending the harvest cycle, the trees sequester carbon for a longer duration, and the resulting wood products store that carbon for decades in the built environment.

Environmentally, the project area benefits from the high rainfall characteristic of the Green Triangle (typically exceeding 600mm annually), which is ideal for softwood production. The soil in this specific location is consistent with the "Limestone Plantations" name, generally featuring sandy loams or deep sands overlaying a limestone or clay base. These free-draining yet moisture-retentive soil profiles are well-suited to supporting deep-rooted plantation forests.

The project is managed by OneFortyOne Plantations Pty Ltd, a major player in the Australian timber industry who owns the nearby Jubilee Highway sawmill in Mount Gambier. Notably, the project's participant structure was updated in May 2025 following OneFortyOne's acquisition of the plantation estate from the Australia New Zealand Forest Fund 2 (ANZFOF2), previously managed by New Forests. The project title "2019 Age Class" indicates that this specific registration covers the carbon abatement associated with trees planted during the 2019 winter planting season.