Sustainable Timber Tasmania Plantation Conversion Project

Sustainable Timber Tasmania Plantation Conversion Project is a plantation forestry project located in North-East Tasmania, roughly 50 to 80 kilometres northeast of Launceston. The project land parcels stretch across the Dorset, George Town, and Launceston local government areas. It was registered in March 2019 and currently covers 234.06 hectares.

Plantation forestry projects operating under the 2017 methodology involve transitioning existing plantation forests to increase their overall carbon sequestration capacity. This specific project achieves this by converting an existing short-term rotation plantation forest into a long-term rotation plantation forest, which is ultimately maintained for the commercial harvesting of long-rotation wood products.

The North-East region of Tasmania is heavily characterised by extensive commercial forestry operations, as well as grazing, dairy farming, and cropping. The area is classified as high rainfall and experiences a cool-temperate maritime climate, generally averaging between 900 mm and 1000 mm of rain annually. The soils across the forestry regions here are highly diverse but typically feature fertile basalt-derived soils (ferrosols), kurosols, and podzolic clays, which provide excellent conditions for robust tree growth.

An interesting note about this project is that the proponent, Forestry Tasmania, formally trades under the name Sustainable Timber Tasmania. They work in conjunction with CO2 Australia Pty Ltd, who act as the project agent and have extensive history managing forestry carbon projects across the country. Additionally, the project underwent a variation in November 2021, which resulted in some of the initially listed areas being removed to reach its current size.