APFL was formed in 1993 with the goal of planting more than 20,000 hectares of blue gums (Eucalytpus globulus) in plantations on farm land in the Lower Great Southern Region of Western Australia.
Today we have over 10,000 hectares (around 12.5 million trees) under plantation in our forest estate on land owned or leased by the Company, or under commercial arrangements with landowners in the region.
Our early establishment strategy involved entering into and agency agreement with the then WA Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) and entering into share farming arrangements with landowners and subsequently with the Forest Products Commission (FPC) in the form of South Coast Sharefarms. This allowed us to draw on the technical expertise and experience of the WA Government in the establishment and maintenance of our plantation forest estate. APFL also purchased the CALM Blue Gum plantation estate that was planted between 1988 and 1993.
All of these arrangements were formalised under the Albany Hardwood Plantation Agreement Act 1993 (WA) in November 1993 and while the agency agreement was ended in 2003 the Act continues to cover the Company’s operations today.