Landari Waterhouse 2023

Landari Waterhouse 2023 is a Plantation Forestry project located in the rural locality of Waterhouse in north-east Tasmania, approximately 40 kilometres east of the coastal town of Bridport and 73 kilometres north-east of Launceston. Registered on October 16, 2024, the project initially covers a project area of 363.86 hectares. According to project notes, a scheduled variation to amend the listed project area will occur in December 2025.

Under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022, projects can sequester carbon by establishing new plantation forests, converting short-rotation to long-rotation plantations, or transitioning forests from harvest to permanent carbon sinks. This specific project focuses on the establishment and maintenance of a new plantation forest for the commercial harvesting of wood products. Standard methodology requirements for such activities dictate that the plantation must be managed according to recognized commercial silvicultural practices. This typically involves targeted planting and stocking densities (often 800 to 1,200 stems per hectare) to ensure the site can ultimately achieve the scheme's definition of forest cover, trees reaching at least 2 metres in height and providing 20% crown cover.

The wider Waterhouse region is heavily utilized for a mix of agriculture (predominantly sheep and beef cattle grazing, alongside dairy farming), commercial forestry, and environmental conservation, such as the nearby 6,700-hectare Waterhouse Conservation Area. Situated in Tasmania's cool, temperate climate, the region experiences relatively high and reliable winter-dominant rainfall. The local environment is characterised by coastal sandy soils, such as Swanage sand, transitioning into sandy loams and podzolic soils further inland. These well-drained loams and sands, combined with adequate rainfall, provide highly suitable conditions for establishing commercial timber species.

An interesting aspect of this project is its proponent, Landari Pty Ltd, a specialized forestry and carbon offset developer based in Armidale, NSW. Landari manages a vast portfolio of carbon projects across Tasmania (including the Landari Tasmanian Plantations 2021 and Landari St Marys aggregations). Their involvement demonstrates a strategic approach to integrating commercial forestry operations with the generation of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by accounting for the carbon stored in both the growing forest biomass and the resulting harvested wood products.