WISCONSIN—A promising new project called Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program is enlisting the help of foresters and landowners to secure some of the carbon locked up in their Northeast forests to protect against climate change.

The cooperative three-year effort to secure as much private forest carbon in the Northeast as possible focuses on working forestland carbon and is being led by the state foresters of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

These seven Northeast states are net carbon sinks, meaning they take in more atmospheric carbon each year than they release. They also include some of the most forested states in the country with over 50 million forested acres and store more than 5.5 billion short tons of carbon in their trees. Nearly 80% of forestland in this region is privately owned.

Assuring that foresters and forest landowners have the latest information on the rapidly evolving carbon markets, which may allow some landowners to monetize their carbon holdings to assure sound decision-making, is the core goal of this project. Foresters and landowners with good knowledge can help secure forest carbon on the region’s forests and assure these forests remain as carbon sinks.

The Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program is made possible through a $500,719 USDA Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration grant, along with $2,043,946 in value for non-federal state and other contributions. The project began in 2021 and will end in 2024.

Charles Levesque, executive director of the North East State Foresters Association, is the program coordinator. He said a huge part of the work to date has been educating foresters and forest landowners about the science of carbon, the principles of managing a carbon program and navigating carbon payment programs. Alexandra Kosiba, climate forester for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, has been the lead educator for the program.

Each state forester and their staff in this project is encouraging private forest owners within their respective states to secure their forest carbon through special management practices, carbon sales in the voluntary and compliance markets, and through conservation easements. Providing these incentives for forest landowners will serve to secure the carbon within their forests for the long term.

The project aligns with Northeast states’ forest action plans.

Levesque said the initiative is still in its early stages, but it’s already showing promise. Kosiba agrees. “It’s coming together as a region and providing education and training on carbon science, forest carbon management and carbon payment programs so landowners can make the best decisions that suit them personally,” she said. “We want folks to manage their land in different ways. There are many different ways that a landowner can manage for carbon that can impact forest carbon on the landscape level.”

To date, the program has held four webinar modules drawing more than 1,100 attendees. Organizers have also held numerous face-to-face presentations at various meetings across the seven-state region.

Forests are the most important land-use when it comes to the sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—sequestering far more than any other land-use on an annual basis, according to a recent Forest Service Northern Research Station report.

Alongside securing carbon in the forests, this project also aims to benefit soil, air and water quality, promote biodiversity and wildlife habitat, and use timber as a means for storing carbon as a societal benefit.

Forests recover and store about 15% of all carbon dioxide emissions each year, nationally. The EPA estimates this number can improve to about 25% through effective forest management practices.

This story is part of a series and highlights one of the 14 common themes identified in the 2020 regional State Forest Action Plan summary report. The theme for July 2022 is Climate Change Adaptation and Carbon Management.