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About Us

Born of a desire to see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity fulfil its promise to those who had the vision.

Forestry for the purposes of generating carbon sequestration has been a topic of research and investigation in Australia since the mid 1990's.

Research led by the then Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) in Western Australia identified a mix of 5 species of mallee eucalypt trees that were well adapted to the harsh and dry conditions experienced in the West Australian wheatbelt and could provide a viable long-term and low-cost source of carbon sequestration.

With a market (price) for carbon sequestration yet to be established, the focus of the research turned to the eucalyptus oil produced by the trees, where a market value and global trade was already present. This led to the generic term 'oil mallee' being coined when broad reference is made to these 5 species of mallee eucalypt trees.

Over the past 15 years, a growing body of empirical data from field trials and laboratory testing has reinforced the superiority of 'oil mallees' over all other dryland native species for their viability as long-term carbon sinks in an agricultural environment.

Perhaps the most important feature of the industry's formative years, and one that is overlooked by those new to the industry, is the fact that the source of all knowledge upon which the industry has been founded, came from the trials and observations of a group of over 1000 independent landowners in Western Australia.

With a view to the tremendous potential an industry of this kind could have for their communities one day, these early-adopters pooled their knowledge and shared their experiences as part of a growers co-operative which would later be known as the Oil Mallee Association of Australia Inc. (OMA).

Founded in 2001, the OMA was created to represent the interests of the farmers and to ensure that they and the communities in which they lived would have an influence over the future design and development of the industry.

By 2005, the foundations for a market in the trading of emission certificates (carbon credits) started to become evident and with commercial opportunity, came commercial interests.

By 2006, the rural community became increasingly anxious about what they had feared most: that the vision they had created would be hijacked and lost under the weight of private interests seeking to commercialise the opportunity.

Recognizing the need for private capital to catalyze the industry, Elementree Pty Ltd ("Elementree") was incorporated in 2006 by the then President of the Oil Mallee Association, Mr. Mike Kerkmans.

Elementree was created in response to an overwhelming desire among regional landowners for an organisation they could trust: an organization that could provide the right commercial opportunities for landowners to participate in this new market while preserving the objects of regional community-building and long-term financial sustainability.

Elementree is the creation and an assembly of, the most experienced and highly-respected individuals in the oil mallee industry. They include the current and immediate past Presidents of the Oil Mallee Association of Australia, Mr. Mike Kerkmans and Mr. Ian Stanley.

Both are widely-recognized as among the most respected farmers in the West Australian wheatbelt community. Both have large mallee estates on their own properties, both are products of well-known second generation farming families, and both were unanimously appointed Presidents of the OMA to represent the interests of the 1000 original oil mallee growers.

Having spent the past 3 years focussed on building the business and developing the industry in the direction and manner that the early-adopters had envisioned, Elementree is now able to boast: