Kent River Soil Carbon Project

The Kent River Soil Carbon Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the locality of Kent River, Western Australia, approximately 30km west of the town of Denmark and 40km east of Walpole. Registered in February 2023, the project covers an area of 568 hectares within the Shire of Denmark. The region is part of the Great Southern's high-rainfall zone, historically characterized by a mix of dairy, beef cattle grazing, and blue gum forestry.

This project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which incentivizes landholders to adopt new management practices that store carbon in agricultural soils. Specifically, this project aims to increase Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stocks by re-establishing or rejuvenating pastures through seeding or pasture cropping. Projects of this type typically utilize a hybrid approach of physical soil core sampling and modelling to measure carbon abatement over a 25-year permanent period.

The project area is situated in a high-rainfall Mediterranean climate, with annual precipitation often exceeding 1000mm, providing favourable conditions for biomass growth and soil carbon accumulation. The local terrain generally consists of undulating lateritic plains with soils ranging from ironstone gravels and sandy duplexes to fertile red-brown "Karri loams," which are remnants of the native Karri and Jarrah forests that once dominated the landscape.

The project is facilitated by Carbon West, a Western Australian carbon developer that assists landholders with the technical and compliance aspects of the ACCU scheme. The project proponent is Grant McCleary, operating as trustee for the Grant McCleary Investment Trust.