Fraser Coast Plantation Water Quality

Fraser Coast Plantation Water Quality is a plantation forestry project located approximately 6km south of the coastal city of Hervey Bay in Queensland. Registered in June 2020, the project covers roughly 76 hectares of land managed by the Fraser Coast Regional Council. The site is situated within the council's wider effluent reuse network, near the localities of Nikenbah and Booral, in a region characterized by a mix of peri-urban development, sugar cane cultivation, and grazing.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022. This methodology credits the carbon sequestered by establishing new plantation forests or converting existing short-rotation plantations to long-rotation ones. For this specific project, the activity involves establishing a new plantation forest for the commercial harvesting of wood products. Key requirements include demonstrating that the land was not native forest in the seven years prior to the project start and adhering to specific planting and management protocols to ensure robust tree growth and carbon storage.

Environmentally, the Fraser Coast region enjoys a subtropical climate with average annual rainfall between 1000mm and 1100mm, although the project area benefits significantly from artificial irrigation. The soils in the area are typically coastal sandy loams and podzolics, which are well-suited for the hardwood species planted. A unique feature of this project is its integration with the council's Recycled Water Strategy; the plantation is irrigated with treated wastewater. This approach not only enhances tree growth and carbon sequestration but also provides a vital co-benefit by reducing nutrient-rich effluent discharge into the Great Sandy Strait, thereby protecting the Great Barrier Reef catchment.