By Ad Crable, Chesapeake Bay Journal

In an effort to combat climate change, some owners of small forests in Chesapeake Bay drainage states are being paid to either delay harvesting trees or take other steps to make their woods better at capturing carbon dioxide from the air.

Until now, owners of the nation’s largest forests — paper companies and others with 3,000 acres or more — are the ones most likely to benefit from exploding private carbon markets that pay owners to keep forests intact.

Now, two separate programs are targeting owners of smaller forests to enhance the considerable carbon-capturing abilities of trees.

The program’s pitch: Improve your forest’s health, aid wildlife, improve water quality and discourage wildfires, all while fighting climate change.

In terms of ecosystem solutions to limit climate change, management of privately held forests in the United States is second only to reforestation in reducing the carbon dioxide piling up in the atmosphere, according to a 2018 study funded by NASA and private foundations.

Reaching owners of smaller forests is especially important in the Chesapeake region, where a majority of each state’s forests are held privately, often in small tracts and often by families or individuals.

“It’s an incredible time to be a small forest landowner. They’re starting to get the recognition and value that they’ve always deserved,” said Elizabeth Greener of the American Forest Foundation.

The Family Forest Carbon Program, run by the foundation and The Nature Conservancy, recently expanded into all of Pennsylvania and West Virginia as well as five counties in western Maryland: Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick and Carroll.

The program is expected to offer enrollment in Virginia this fall as part of a mission to go nationwide.

The expansion follows a 2020–21 pilot effort in 29 counties in Pennsylvania. Approximately 2,000 private forest landowners, collectively owning more than 26,000 acres, inquired about participating.

Sixty of them, together owning nearly 10,000 acres, qualified for the program in the first year.

An approved forest management plan, written by a certified forester, is required. The program provides a forester to help those who don’t have a plan.

Payments are offered for commitments to either 10-year or 20-year stewardship plans. It gives those who own forests of 30–2,400 acres a one-time upfront payment of $100–$230 per acre to restrict timber harvests over the next 20 years.

Timber removal that creates a healthier forest is allowed.

Or, it pays $50–$280 per acre, depending on the size of the woods, to landowners who “enhance” their woods over a 10-year period.

That can mean removing invasive plants that strangle new trees and native plants, taking out lower-quality trees from previous timber cuts and other practices that increase forest growth that will, in turn, absorb more carbon.

“Our program is more than just carbon,” said Kevin Yoder, a conservation forester with the conservancy. “We are looking at helping the landowner steward that property. That sets our program apart.”

That’s exactly what appealed to Laura and Mike Jackson when they enrolled 113 acres in southcentral Pennsylvania into the program.

When Laura inherited the family farm, the retired schoolteacher knew that two past timber cuttings had removed only commercially valuable trees and left the woods in bad shape. So had a gypsy moth infestation.

“The first thing we did was cry,” Laura said. Then, with payouts under both parts of the program, the Jacksons removed invasives, reforested gaps in the canopy and even managed 29 acres to attract the ground-nesting golden-winged warbler and American woodcock.

“So many landowners don’t value their forests because of economics,” she said. “They value their well-being when they’re in the forests. This way, landowners get money without cutting the trees. It gives landowners something to understand how important their forests are to alleviate climate change.”

The Natural Capital Exchange started a different nationwide initiative in 2021, allowing entry into carbon markets by all forest owners, whether they own 2 or 2 million acres. Six counties in Pennsylvania were the test market.

So far, it has paid 240 landowners in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and New York, with a collective ownership of 222,000 forested acres, for one-year agreements to not harvest timber.

At a recent carbon auction, eligible Pennsylvania forest owners received from $5-$10 per acre, depending on such variables as tree species, stand density and maturity.

“At NCX, we help forests and communities thrive by democratizing the benefits of carbon-removing incentives,” said Zack Parisa, co-founder of the San Francisco-based company.

One big difference between the two programs is that the Family Forest Carbon Program seeks to consult with landowners in the long-term to create a healthier forest, while the exchange focuses on connecting forest landowners to carbon markets where they can sell credits to companies with a net-zero carbon pledge.

The family forest program pays landowners directly, hoping to recoup those costs once carbon credits are sold to Amazon, REI Co-op, The North Face and other Fortune 500 companies that have signed on to the effort.

Under the exchange, landowners accepted into the program — often those who actively harvest timber — are paid only after the carbon credits are sold at auction.

The exchange has sold customers’ carbon credits to companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Microsoft.

Managers of both programs say landowners should do their homework and learn which program best fits their needs and goals. Each has restrictions that prevent a landowner from participating in both efforts simultaneously.

Information about the programs can be found at The Family Forest Carbon Program and Natural Capital Exchange webpages.

(Photo: Laura and Mike Jackson, landowners in southcentral Pennsylvania, have been paid to improve their forest’s ability to capture carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.)

(Reprinted from Chesapeake Bay Journal.)

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[Posted: March 1, 2022]

3/7/2022