Stockdale Park Carbon Project

Stockdale Park Carbon Project is a Plantation Forestry project spanning multiple forestry sites across Victoria's premier timber regions, including the Otway Ranges near Colac, Dartmoor near the South Australian border, and Traralgon in Gippsland. It was registered in August 2023 and initially covers a substantial 3,391.92 ha.

Plantation Forestry projects under the 2022 methodology determination involve establishing new plantation forests or converting an existing short-rotation plantation (such as those grown for pulpwood) to a long-rotation plantation (such as sawlogs). This methodology allows for greater, long-term carbon sequestration in both the living forest biomass and the harvested commercial wood products.

The regions surrounding the project's various locations are heavily utilized for commercial forestry, dairy farming, and beef cattle grazing. Situated in Victoria's primary timber hubs, these areas are classified as high rainfall zones (typically receiving well over 600mm to 1000mm annually) and feature diverse but fertile soil types, including podzols, sandy loams, and volcanic basalt soils, which are highly ideal for both pine and eucalypt growth.

Managed by Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP), one of Australia’s largest private timber plantation companies, the project is notably dynamic. It serves as a large-scale aggregation across the HVP estate, with over fifteen variations adding more land to the project area between May 2024 and August 2026. The project sequesters carbon by maintaining these forests for commercial harvesting, ultimately generating Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) while supporting statewide emission reduction targets.