South Australian NPWS Environmental Plantings Project

The South Australian NPWS Environmental Plantings Project is a large-scale aggregated environmental planting project located across multiple regions of South Australia. Due to the dispersed nature of the project area (over 31,600 hectares), it spans several distinct landscapes including the Eyre Peninsula (near Port Lincoln and Elliston), Kangaroo Island, the Adelaide Hills (near Mount Crawford), and the Limestone Coast (near Mount Gambier and Naracoorte). Registered in November 2020, this project represents a significant state-led initiative to revegetate land managed by the Department for Environment and Water (NPWS reserves) that was previously used for agricultural purposes such as grazing or cropping.

The project operates under the "Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings" methodology. This involves establishing permanent plantings of native tree and shrub species indigenous to the local area. The goal is to sequester carbon by growing forest cover on land that has been clear of forest for at least five years. These plantings are typically mixed-species to mimic natural ecosystems and must be maintained to achieve forest cover thresholds (generally attaining a height of at least 2 metres and canopy cover of at least 20%).

Given the vast geographical spread, the environmental conditions vary significantly. The project sites range from the semi-arid, sandy, and calcareous soils of the Eyre Peninsula and Mallee regions, characterized by lower rainfall and mallee vegetation, to the high-rainfall, cool-climate zones of the Adelaide Hills and Limestone Coast, which feature loamy or terra rossa soils suitable for dense woodland. This diversity allows for a wide variety of native vegetation communities to be restored.

A notable aspect of this project is the collaboration between the South Australian Government (Department for Environment and Water) and Canopy Nature Based Solutions, a subsidiary of Greening Australia. Canopy acts as the project developer/agent, leveraging their expertise in large-scale restoration to manage the carbon credit generation. This partnership highlights a growing trend of utilizing carbon markets to fund biodiversity restoration within public conservation estates.