Storing carbon in St Peters Pass woodlot

Posted 28 January 2026

Species, sites and planting Managing trees On-farm benefits Economic benefits and markets Carbon benefits PFT

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Pinus radiata seedlings planted last spring in a woodlot at St Peters Pass are busy growing.

Private Forests Tasmania’s Stems for CO2 project is underway at Tasmanian farmer Dougal Morrison’s property, with one of three site locations planted with trees and starting to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

These Pinus radiata seedlings were planted with protective stockings as initial protection from browsing mammals in the area. The planting area is approximately 4 hectares and is located adjacent to the Midlands Highway between Oatlands and St Peters Pass.

Growing timber

Moving forward, management of the woodlot seedlings will focus on monitoring and potential browsing mitigation in the short-term. These management discussions and decisions are undertaken by the landowner and their engaged forestry consultant.

Implementing management strategies to reduce competition from grasses will be a key consideration at this site as it is critical trees are not competing with other vegetation for soil nutrients and water - this will also set them up for success in the next growing season later this year. 

Storing carbon

As part of the Stems for CO2 project, the FullCAM model was used to estimate the total tonnes of carbon captured and emitted throughout the life of the woodlot site. The woodlot is not being registered as a forest carbon project with the Clean Energy Regulator, and therefore any carbon captured during its lifetime could support offsetting of emissions from the Morrison family enterprise. 

FullCAM modelling has indicated that this woodlot could store over 5,800 tonnes of carbon in its lifetime. This is equivalent to the average annual emissions of 1,265 cars or 333 households. 

The rate at which carbon is captured will increase as the trees grow and reach maturity. When growth rates slow, and the woodlot is harvested (around 27 years), carbon will be stored in the wood products harvested. 

The longer an area of forest follows a cycle of harvesting and regenerating, the more carbon is captured from the atmosphere and stored in trees and wood products. This process supports climate change mitigation.

Securing the future

The woodlot at St Peters Pass is one of three plantings the Morrison family are establishing as part of Private Forests Tasmania's Stems for CO2 project. 

The Stems for CO2 project focuses on establishing commercial tree plantings on Tasmanian farms to demonstrate the carbon sequestration potential for their specific location and planting. 

In total, under this project, more than 160,000 seedlings will be planted across a total area of 152 hectares. In addition to the woodlot, two Pinus radiata plantations will be established – one of which will be established following upcoming harvesting of an existing Eucalyptus nitens plantation. The two plantations will be registered with the Clean Energy Regulator as schedule 2 forest carbon projects under the Australian Carbon Credits Units (ACCU) scheme and Dougal has engaged a carbon consultant to support him with this process.

Farmer Dougal Morrison sees forestry as a vital part of his mission to improve the St Peters Pass farm landscape and operations. The property runs more than 18,000 ewes for meat and wool and hundreds of beef cattle as its primary enterprises.

Forestry is an option to both diversify income and offset the carbon footprint of some of the other commodities of their farm by meeting developing environmental wool and meat market certification benchmarks. 

Forestry and carbon forest projects are an option to support on-farm sustainability and productivity. In addition to a range of productivity benefits from planting and managing trees, actively participating in a forestry carbon project could support landowners’ other farm enterprises through certification, accessing new markets and meeting national net-zero climate change targets.

To find out more about Private Forests Tasmania’s Stems for CO2 project, please CLICK HERE.