On 25 January, SWCC’s CSR & Communications Manager, Nicki Ledger, attended South West Timber Hub‘s launch of a new decision support tool for landholders considering establishing plantations on their land.
The Decision Tree tool, available here, has been designed to rapidly assess the suitability of farms for plantation forestry, as well as provide information and assistance to landowners seeking to plant trees.
Through Decision Tree’s unique assessment tool, farmers or landowners simply add in a few details such as their
location and rainfall and the result will tell them if farm forestry is a potentially profitable crop choice compared to alternative agricultural uses.
From there, landowners have a choice of investment models and how closely they choose to work with industry
professionals to manage the trees and access carbon credits.
At this stage, the tool is only available for pine plantations but the second stage of its development will include eucalyptus and sandalwood options. Phase two will utilise funding of $500,000 from an agreement between the Commonwealth and WA Government for further development and program expansion, including turning the assessment tool into a web-based application.
To find out more, contact SWCC on [email protected] or 08 9724 2400.
