Winderland 2024

Winderland 2024 is a Plantation Forestry project located in the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes in Western Australia, approximately 15km south of the town of Bridgetown and 15km north of Manjimup. Registered on March 21, 2024, the project covers 245.93 hectares in a region renowned for its productive agricultural land and "Southern Forests" timber industry.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022. This methodology allows for the establishment of new plantation forests that are intended for commercial harvesting. Unlike permanent environmental plantings, this method generates Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by accounting for the long-term average carbon stocks sequestered by the trees over rotational harvest cycles.

The project area is situated in a high-rainfall zone, typically receiving between 900mm and 1000mm annually, which supports robust timber growth. The region's soils are generally characterized as fertile loams and gravelly duplex soils, often referred to locally as "Karri loams," which are highly suitable for both forestry and horticulture.

A notable aspect of this project is its proponent, Roy Hill Holdings Pty Ltd, a major Australian iron ore mining company. The establishment of Winderland 2024 aligns with Roy Hill's broader corporate strategy to manage and offset greenhouse gas emissions from its mining operations in the Pilbara. This represents a growing trend of resource companies directly investing in land-based carbon sequestration projects to meet internal net-zero targets or regulatory baseline requirements.