Stockdale Park Carbon Project

Stockdale Park Carbon Project is a commercial plantation forestry project anchored in the locality of Stockdale, approximately 25km north of Stratford in the Gippsland region of Victoria. Registered in August 2023, this project is managed by Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP), one of Australia’s largest private timber estate managers. While the project likely takes its name from the Stockdale property, the provided coordinates indicate it is an aggregated project with forestry compartments dispersed across Victoria's key timber regions, including the Otways (South West), the Green Triangle (near Casterton), and the North East (near Tallangatta).

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022. It is a "hybrid" project involving two distinct activities: establishing new plantation forests on land that has not recently supported timber (Schedule 1) and converting existing short-rotation plantations, typically harvested for woodchips, into long-rotation plantations yielding sawlogs (Schedule 2). This methodology credits the project not only for the carbon stored in the growing trees but also for the long-term carbon storage in the harvested wood products used in construction and furniture.

The environmental setting for this project varies due to its dispersed nature, but all sites are located in high-rainfall zones (typically exceeding 600mm–800mm annually) essential for commercial Pinus radiata (radiata pine) or Eucalypt growth. The Stockdale and Gippsland sites generally feature sandy loams and clay soils typical of the region's alluvial topography, while the western sites in the Otways and Green Triangle often sit on fertile volcanic plains (basalt) or sandy clay loams. The region surrounding the primary Stockdale site is traditionally used for grazing and mixed farming, making the introduction of plantation forestry a significant land-use shift.

A notable feature of this project is its rapid expansion; the project area has undergone numerous variations throughout 2024 and 2025, growing to over 2,593 hectares. This pattern is consistent with HVP's broader participation in the "Gippsland Plantation Investment Program," a partnership with the Victorian Government aimed at planting 16 million trees. The inclusion of participant Wen Long Liu suggests the project may also involve leasing arrangements or specific freehold properties integrated into HVP's wider estate.