Western Tree Farms 1

Western Tree Farms 1 is a plantation forestry project located across the Shires of Boyup Brook and Bridgetown-Greenbushes in the South West region of Western Australia, approximately 15km west of Bridgetown. It was registered in May 2024 and covers 659.61 ha.

Plantation forestry projects under the Carbon Farming Initiative involve establishing a new commercial plantation forest or converting an existing short-rotation plantation to a long-rotation one. These projects require trees to be specifically managed for the commercial harvesting of wood products while maintaining required stocking densities and canopy cover.

The Bridgetown and Boyup Brook areas are well known for forestry operations, livestock grazing, and horticulture. The region typically experiences a Mediterranean climate with high winter rainfall, while the regional soils are predominantly deep weathered sands, gravelly lateritic soils, and clay valleys.

This project is managed by Wespine Industries, a major softwood sawmiller based in nearby Dardanup. Wespine specialises in producing plantation-grown radiata pine for structural construction and packaging. The project sequesters carbon by extending the rotation length of existing plantations and establishing new forests, operating under a zero-waste approach where even the byproduct sawdust is utilised by a local particleboard facility.