Coalara Park Australian Sandalwood Plantation Project

Coalara Park Australian Sandalwood Plantation Project is a plantation forestry project located in the Dandaragan local government area, approximately 150km north of Perth in Western Australia. It was registered in June 2021 and covers 2335.73 ha.

Plantation forestry projects involve establishing and maintaining new plantation forests for the commercial harvesting of wood products. The methodology calculates abatement based on the long-term average carbon stored across multiple harvest and regrowth cycles, which includes carbon sequestered in the harvested wood. Because Australian sandalwood is a hemiparasitic plant, these commercial plantations typically require host trees, such as native Acacia species, to be planted alongside the sandalwood to ensure successful establishment and growth.

The Dandaragan region is situated in the northern WA Wheatbelt, an area predominantly used for mixed farming, broadacre cropping, and grazing. The region experiences a Mediterranean climate with semi-arid to medium winter-dominant rainfall, averaging around 530mm annually. Soils in this region are characteristically deep grey and red sands, sandy duplexes, and gravelly sands over clay.

The project is managed by the proponent, Arguello Timber Pty Ltd, an Australian private company, with Corporate Carbon Advisory Pty Ltd acting as the project agent. Project notes indicate that in August 2022, the project varied its method from the 2017 Plantation Forestry Methodology Determination to the updated 2022 Plantation Forestry Methodology Determination. Additionally, an area variation is scheduled for July 2025, which will remove specific sections of land from the original project boundary.