Southern Rural Water is assessing its land holdings across southern Victoria to find suitable locations to generate carbon reforestation offsets to achieve our net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target.
Consultants appointed by Southern Rural Water have completed forestry assessments covering the sustainability of the land for carbon offsets, any bushfire risks to the community, cultural heritage matters, visual amenity considerations and land suitability for planting for sites owned by Southern Rural Water at Lake Merrimu, Lake Glenmaggie and Blue Rock Lake.
Planting at Merrimu Reservoir and Lake Glenmaggie
Southern Rural Water has considered the forestry assessments and decided to prioritise plantings at Lake Merrimu and Lake Glenmaggie.
A tender to appoint a suitably qualified service provider to procure, prepare and plant carbon offsets at Lake Merrimu and Lake Glenmaggie has been released to the market. Southern Rural Water expects to begin works at these sites in May 2025.
Blue Rock plantings
Southern Rural Water stands by its commitment to comprehensive consultation with the Willow Grove community on any proposal to plant carbon offsets at Blue Rock Lake. The decision to prioritise plantings at Lake Merrimu and Lake Glenmaggie was made to ensure this consultation process could be undertaken in a manner that ensures all community members can have their say.
Southern Rural Water is presently focusing its efforts in implementing the Lake Merrimu and Lake Glenmaggie proposals. There will be important things for Southern Rural Water to learn through the tendering process and we want to apply these learnings, along with the findings of the forestry assessment, in the development of the scope of potential plantings at Blue Rock Lake that we will consult on with the Willow Grove Community.
While we understand our Willow Grove community is interested in this work, we want to make sure we do our consultation the right way. No decisions have been made on plantings at Blue Rock Lake, and none will be made until consultation has occurred. We expect that this process will kick-off in the latter part of 2024, given our focus is presently on the Lake Merrimu and Lake Glenmaggie works.
This also means that we definitely won’t be planting trees at Blue Rock Lake in 2025. The earliest any carbon forestry plantings could take place is in May 2026 at Blue Rock Lake, with the final timing to be subject to the outcomes of community consultation.
What is involved in planting?
Carbon reforestation offsets involve planting trees to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and contribute to reducing the effects of climate change.
Planting involves a mixture of native and local tree, shrub and understorey species to establish new and permanent forest cover. These projects earn one Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) for each tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2-e) sequestered by trees as they grow.
We are already reducing our greenhouse gas emissions through the installation of solar panels, transitioning towards electric vehicles and the purchase of green energy. Planting trees to generate carbon offsets will help us to mitigate our climate change impacts, whilst reducing emissions at their source.
Benefits of planting for carbon offsets
There are multiple co-benefits associated with planting trees to generate carbon offsets. By planting species that are native to the local area, it will create habitat and corridors for a wide range of flora and fauna and connect areas of existing vegetation across the landscape.
Reforestation of our land will also remove invasive flora and fauna species and improve the resilience of local ecosystems.
Reforestation will reduce nitrogen and phosphorous runoff into our water storages and prevent sedimentation, with subsequent benefits for water quality.
By vegetating the area around our storages, the forested area will help to reduce erosion along the banks, improving water quality and overall integrity of the storage.
Reforestation will also increase organic matter and infiltration rates within the topsoil, improving overall soil health.
What are the assessments?
Southern Rural Water appointed a Warragul-based consultancy to undertake a range of assessments. This consultancy led a skilled, locally based, multi-disciplinary team of bushfire risk, landscape planning, agriculture, environment, horticulture, and cultural heritage survey specialists to conduct the following:
- Bushfire risk and current condition site assessment
- Site condition, existing species, and Ecological Vegetation Class condition assessment
- Site suitability, gradient, land use condition, planting method limitations, weed and pest assessment
- Cultural heritage due diligence assessment.
Planting proposals for Merrimu Reservoir and Lake Glenmaggie
