Western Treefarm Project phase 1

Western Treefarm Project phase 1 is a plantation forestry project located across the local government areas of Boyup Brook and West Arthur, situated near Collie and approximately 100km inland from the coastal city of Bunbury in Western Australia. It was registered on 24 February 2022 and currently covers an area of 1,864.88 hectares.

Plantation forestry projects under the ACCU scheme involve activities such as establishing new plantations, altering management practices, or transitioning harvest cycles to increase carbon storage in the landscape. Standard requirements for this methodology involve adhering to specific stocking densities, managing strict harvest cycles, and modeling the carbon sequestered, often using tools like FullCAM to accurately measure biomass and account for greenhouse gas emissions from forestry activities. This specific project sequesters carbon by converting an existing short-rotation plantation forest to a long-rotation plantation forest for the commercial harvesting of wood products.

The project region experiences a Mediterranean climate and sits within a medium-to-high rainfall zone, typically receiving between 500mm and 700mm of annual rainfall. The surrounding landscape is largely dedicated to broad-hectare agriculture, including sheep grazing and cropping, alongside extensive commercial forestry and timber operations. The environmental conditions are characterized by soils that are predominantly ironstone gravels, with loams and leached sands commonly found in the valley floors.

The project is operated by Mitsui & Co. Wood Resources Oceania Pty Ltd, which actively manages several associated phases of the Western Treefarm Project across Western Australia. Since its registration, the project has undergone multiple variations. Notably, in May 2023, it transitioned from the 2017 Plantation Forestry Methodology to the updated 2022 determination. Additionally, the project area has been amended and expanded through several variations in August 2023, April 2024, and August 2024.