Pigeon Creek Plantation

Pigeon Creek Plantation is a plantation forestry project located in the locality of Wiagdon, approximately 25 kilometres north of Bathurst in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Registered in February 2024, the project covers a significant area of 1,022 hectares. The site is situated within the Bathurst Regional Council area, a region well-regarded for both livestock grazing and softwood forestry operations.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022. This methodology credits the carbon sequestered by establishing new plantation forests on land where no forest has existed for at least seven years, or by converting short-rotation plantations to long-rotation ones. In this specific case, the proponent, G 5 Forestry Pty Ltd, is establishing a new plantation forest, likely Softwood Radiata Pine, which is common in the district, for commercial wood product harvesting.

Environmentally, the Wiagdon area is characterized by undulating to steep grazing country with soils often described locally as productive pink loams or granite-derived soils. The region falls within a high rainfall zone, typically receiving between 600mm and 800mm annually, which is conducive to supporting commercial timber stocks. The project takes its name from Pigeon Creek, a local watercourse that flows through the area and is a tributary within the broader Macquarie River catchment.

Notably, G 5 Forestry Pty Ltd was a successful recipient of a $1.3 million grant under the Australian Government's "Support Plantation Establishment" program (Round 2) in 2024. This funding was specifically awarded to support the establishment of 650 hectares of new softwood plantation in New South Wales, directly supporting the activities of this carbon project.