Blackwood Biodiversity and Carbon Project

The Blackwood Biodiversity and Carbon Project is an environmental planting initiative located in the Southern Grampians region of Victoria. The project site is situated approximately 8 kilometers northeast of the town of Penshurst and about 30 kilometers southeast of the major regional center of Hamilton. Registered in May 2022, the project covers an area of 181 hectares on land that was historically cleared for agricultural use.

The surrounding region is part of the Western District's volcanic plains, a landscape characterized by fertile, basalt-derived heavy clay soils and consistent rainfall averaging around 680mm annually. These conditions historically supported productive grazing and cropping operations, which remain the dominant land use in the area. The project's transition from agriculture to permanent native forest leverages these favorable growing conditions to maximize carbon sequestration rates.

Operating under the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings-FullCAM methodology, the project establishes permanent plantings of mixed native tree species local to the area. To generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), the planting must meet strict density requirements, typically maintaining a canopy cover or stem density sufficient to achieve forest cover (often defined as at least 200 stems per hectare for non-Mallee plantings). In November 2025, the project updated its methodology adherence to the 2024 determination, ensuring compliance with the latest scientific standards for carbon modeling.