2020 AGE CLASS, LIMESTONE PLANTATIONS

2020 AGE CLASS, LIMESTONE PLANTATIONS is a plantation forestry project located in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, approximately 25km southwest of Naracoorte. Registered on March 2, 2020, the project currently covers an area of 281.41 hectares. The project is operated by OneFortyOne Plantations, a major forestry company in the Green Triangle zone, which manages extensive softwood assets formerly owned by the South Australian government.

The project operates under the Plantation Forestry methodology, specifically focusing on the conversion from short-rotation to long-rotation forestry. In standard short-rotation forestry, trees are typically harvested quickly (often within 10-15 years) for low-value products like woodchips or pulp. This project changes the management regime to allow trees to grow for a much longer period (often 30+ years), producing high-value sawlogs for structural timber. This extended growth period keeps carbon sequestered in the living biomass for longer, and the resulting structural timber stores carbon for decades in the built environment, unlike paper products which release carbon back into the atmosphere quickly.

The region is characterized by its Green Triangle forestry land use, alongside premium viticulture and grazing. The environmental conditions are ideal for Radiata pine, featuring a high winter-dominant rainfall climate and soils that typically consist of sandy loams overlying limestone (often referred to as terra rossa or karst-influenced soils). These free-draining yet moisture-retentive soils support rapid tree growth.

OneFortyOne Plantations has registered multiple "Age Class" projects (e.g., 2018, 2019, 2021), suggesting a systematic rolling conversion of their estate's management strategy to generate carbon credits. This specific project has undergone administrative variations, including a reduction in the project area in 2021 and a participant name update in 2025 to reflect OneFortyOne taking direct trusteeship.