Fresh Earth Agriculture - Cooksvale Reforestation Project

Fresh Earth Agriculture - Cooksvale Reforestation Project is an environmental planting project located in the locality of Peelwood, approximately 55km north of Crookwell in the Upper Lachlan Shire of New South Wales. It was registered in June 2025 and initially covered an area of 119.51 hectares, though a variation recorded in October 2025 saw additional areas added to the project boundary.

The project follows the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings (FullCAM) 2024 methodology. Environmental planting projects involve establishing and maintaining permanent plantings of native tree and shrub species. To meet standard requirements, these species are typically planted at a density sufficient to achieve native forest cover (often at least 200 stems per hectare), and the specific species mix must deliberately reflect the structure and composition of the local native vegetation community.

The surrounding Peelwood and Crookwell region is highly regarded for its livestock operations, particularly traditional sheep and cattle breeding. The area sits within a high rainfall zone, receiving an average of roughly 764mm to 780mm of rain annually. The landscape features productive creek flats rising to steep timbered hills, and the soils are predominantly granite-derived brown, yellow, and red sandy loams.

Interestingly, this reforestation effort is part of a broader carbon farming aggregation on the historic "Cooksvale East" property. The proponent, Cooksvale Pty Ltd, is also operating a sibling project on the same land known as the "Fresh Earth Agriculture - Cooksvale Soil Carbon Project" (ERF204256), which aims to increase soil organic carbon through pasture improvements, ameliorants, and altered grazing management. Registry data also notes the existence of another adjacent reforestation project called the "Fresh Earth Agriculture - Cooksvale West Reforestation Project" (ERF206148), demonstrating a large-scale, multi-method approach to environmental regeneration and stacked carbon crediting on the property.