Landowners in several counties in the western upper peninsula can now enroll small forest areas in a carbon market program designed for those with as little as 30 acres of eligible land.
The American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy now share Family Forest Carbon Program In some counties of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This is a climate change effort that aims to calculate the increase in carbon sequestration by populations of registered forest land.
Participants will receive expert advice on forestry practices that can increase land value and extract more carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis by trees and other plants. There is a financial incentive for 20 years and the land can be re-registered.
“Eligible landowners are paid each year to implement specific harvesting practices in forests that have been scientifically shown to store and sequester more carbon,” says the Michigan Nature Conservancy. Emily Clegg, District Director of Land and Water Management, said.
In the UP, forest owners in Baraga, Dickinson, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Marquette, and Ontonagon counties: Program Eligibility.
But officials said the program is expected to expand further later this year to include the entire UP and the northern part of the Lower Peninsula.
Brittany VanderWaal, senior Midwest forestry manager at the foundation, said much of Michigan’s 20 million acres of forest belongs to private owners. This is the perfect opportunity for collective climate action, she said.
Those landowners could use the program as a pathway to “climate smart” forestry practices that make sense for their particular characteristics, VanderWall said.
Two practices of this program are to grow more mature broadleaf forests or to diversify the age groups of poplar forests.
Other ecological benefits of registered forests include enhanced wildlife habitat, biodiversity protection, and resilience to climate change. Larger and older trees also acquire commercial value until they are finally felled.
VanderWall said the program is a way to give small forest owners access to the carbon offset market.
“Traditionally, these carbon markets are open to large industrial landowners of 5,000 acres or more because it makes economic sense,” she said.
“But the program was designed for small landowners, those with 30 or more acres. And many family landowners own more than 120 or 200 acres. No. Small landowners can participate in this big thing: they can do climate-smart things on their land, they can get paid yearly, and they can use one of the climate solutions in their backyard. You can become part of it.”
The program sells credits on the carbon offset market based on analysis of tree and plant growth on registered land. Scientists use a first-of-its-kind forest carbon accounting method designed to improve accuracy.
Officials say the new method measures the performance of land similar to registered land in real time, reducing reliance on models built on outdated data and assumptions. If a registered land is found to store the same or less carbon than similar land, the program will not sell credits.
“Our methodology was specifically designed to precisely address the type of criticism many carbon programs face. It will be updated with actual data inputs for each validation cycle to align,” said Kristen Voorhees, Communications Director at the Foundation.
This is the first time it’s been available in the Midwest since the program launched in 2017. Previously, only forest owners in the northeastern states, including Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia, were eligible to participate.
Related article:
Boreal forests store more carbon than tropical forests, MSU Smithsonian exhibit show
Study Shows Great Lakes Region Could Be Global Leader in Carbon Offset Market
TED Talks, World Climate Summit in Michigan This Summer
