Barr Schedule 4

Barr Schedule 4 is a Plantation Forestry project located approximately 80km northeast of Albany, near the locality of Green Range in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Registered on November 1, 2024, the project covers a land area of 212.61 hectares. The surrounding region is predominantly utilized for mixed farming, including broadacre cropping and sheep grazing, as well as significant commercial timber operations, historically dominated by Tasmanian Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus).

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022. Specifically, it utilizes "Schedule 4" of the methodology, which involves transitioning an existing commercial plantation into a permanent forest. Instead of harvesting the timber for woodchips or paper pulp, which would release stored carbon and potentially see the land revert to agriculture, the trees are protected to continue growing and sequestering carbon for a period of 25 or 100 years. This activity is critical in preventing the conversion of plantation land back to non-forested agricultural use.

Environmentally, the site sits within a high-rainfall zone characteristic of the South Coast of Western Australia, experiencing a Mediterranean climate with wet winters and dry summers. The landscape typically features gently undulating plains with soils that are predominantly ironstone gravels (laterite) and sandy duplex soils (sand over clay). These well-drained yet moisture-retaining soils are highly suitable for deep-rooted forestry species.

The proponent, The Trust Company (Australia) Limited, acts as the trustee for the Forestry Investment Trust. This trust is managed by New Forests, a leading global investment manager of nature-based real assets. New Forests creates value by managing the transition of productive plantations into permanent conservation assets, thereby generating high-integrity carbon credits while enhancing biodiversity in the landscape.