Year upon year, these seeds and seedlings will become vital animal habitat, and food sources, restore the soil, and capture carbon emissions from the atmosphere to become their roots, stems, and leaves. This establishment is the kick-starting of a long process of reforestation.

Planting took place in our Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor, a reforestation project aiming to create a 200km corridor of native vegetation on degraded land. We’re partnered with hundreds of businesses and organisations to plant trees in the Corridor to provide nature-based climate solutions.

This year’s planting season was helped by the big rains brought by Tropical Cyclone Seroja. The opportunity to plant on moist ground was seized, giving the seeds and seedlings the best chance of establishment.

Planting at our Red Plains property comprised just shy of 500 hectares on a mix of clay, gravel, and rocky soils that required different and targeted restoration planning. Our planting team has a deep knowledge of the landscape and how to restore it to a thriving woodland ecosystem.

At all planting areas, a mix of both seeds and seedlings are planted. Longer-living overstory species like eucalypt and malaleuca can find it difficult to regenerate by seed, and so were raised as seedlings in the nearby Parnells Nursery in Tincurrin. Carbon Neutral has developed successful direct-seeding methods over the last 20 years for many species planted as seed.

The Wilton Wells and Hillview properties had extensive planting in 2020, and so less planting occurred in 2021. Insect and weed monitoring will be ongoing as the vegetation continues to establish in the coming years.

We’re always looking for ways to improve and build on our planting approaches, and this year was no different. Different site preparations and seed mix combinations were trialled with the aim of getting the best survival rates through the intense heat of the WA summer.

We’re looking forward to planting even more trees in 2022!

We are pleased to announce that Carbon Neutral will welcome onboard Tiverton Agriculture Impact Fund (TAIF) as our new major shareholder, effective from 1 July 2021. 

TAIF owns and manages a diverse portfolio of sustainably managed agricultural properties including broad acre cropping, horticulture and natural capital assets including soil carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation projects.

Reforestation has been recognised globally as a key component of society’s race to net zero, and one of the most effective methods of removing carbon from the atmosphere.  Carbon Neutral’s reforestation projects fit perfectly into TAIF’s portfolio.

The investment by TAIF will see the further development of our iconic  Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor project in Western Australia and allow the expansion of our operations to other parts of WA and Australia’s eastern states. Experienced forestry investor and carbon farming pioneer, Tony Jack has been appointed to lead this phase of growth.

Carbon Neutral’s visionary founder, Denis Watson, will retain his shareholding in the business and is pleased to know that his legacy of a green corridor will be preserved and extended around the country.

“This is a fantastic outcome. Partnering with a like-minded group like TAIF will give us the extra capacity to significantly increase our biodiverse planting programs for the benefit of the environment, our clients and, most importantly, future generations.”

TIAF is a leader in biodiversity recovery projects throughout Australia, they have been involved in multiple recovery programs for threatened and endangered Australian species. Nigel Sharp, Tiverton CEO says he is “looking forward to bringing our experience in biodiversity regeneration to compliment the Carbon Neutral team.”

Carbon Neutral’s Gold Standard certified reforestation project in the Corridor is already on track to sequester more than 1 million tonnes of CO₂-e  by the trees that we’ve planted to date.  Tiverton’s investment will see more trees being planted more quickly and even more carbon being removed from the atmosphere in an ecologically sustainable way.

Carbon Neutral is now working with our new shareholder to develop new projects and climate mitigation products, which will be rolled out over the coming months for our growing client base.  We remain committed to providing carbon advisory services and helping organisations minimise their impact through measuring, reducing, and compensating for unavoidable emissions.  

Read more about Tiverton in the article Green Farming Australia featured in the Weekend Australian.