Lenah2025R_Howlett_S2

Lenah2025R_Howlett_S2 is a Plantation Forestry project located in the Derwent Valley and Southern Midlands region, approximately 5km southeast of Kempton and 50km north of Hobart in Tasmania. It was registered in August 2025 and originally covers 213.78ha.

Plantation Forestry projects under the Carbon Farming Initiative involve establishing new plantations, maintaining them, or converting short-rotation to long-rotation plantations to sequester carbon. Standard requirements include maintaining strict species guidelines, minimum stocking densities, and management plans to ensure the forest produces commercial wood products while successfully providing net carbon abatement. This specific project increases carbon storage by converting an existing short-rotation plantation forest into a long-rotation plantation prior to commercial harvesting.

The Kempton and Derwent Valley area is traditionally known for sheep and cattle grazing, agriculture, and large-scale commercial forestry operations. The region sits in a rain shadow, resulting in relatively low rainfall for Tasmania; the Kempton district receives an average of less than 550mm annually. Local soils predominantly feature podzols and podzolic soils formed over sandstone and mudstone, alongside some black and brown soils derived from dolerite.

The project is run by Lenah Estate Pty Ltd, with SFM Environmental Solutions acting as the property manager and project agent. Lenah Estate encompasses over 18,500 hectares of commercial radiata pine plantations that were acquired by the international forestry investor New Forests in 2020. The project's boundaries have seen some administrative adjustments over time, with variations adding new land in April 2026 and removing some listed areas in September 2026. Interestingly, SFM Environmental Solutions has been actively trialling innovative forestry technologies across the Lenah Estate, notably implementing "Firehawk", a state-of-the-art, camera-based early-detection system designed to quickly identify and combat bushfires to protect both the community and the timber assets.