Climate Desk

The Rural Maine Reporting Project is made possible through the generous support of the Betterment Fund.

USDA program aims to encourage forest landowners to store more carbon

Maine Public | By Susan Sharon

Published April 27, 2023 at 4:35 PM EDT

With more than 800,000 acres, Seven Islands is one of the largest landowners in Maine. And for decades, the family-owned company has been independently certified in "sustainable forestry" a management strategy that considers biodiversity, water, soil and other factors before deciding which trees should be cut and which should be left to grow.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has kicked off what's being billed as a "transformative effort" to restore New England's forests through climate-smart forestry practices. Known as the "Climate Smart Commodities Partnership," the $30 million program aims to encourage forest landowners to store more carbon on their land while also expanding markets for sustainably grown forest products.

"And the way this project is going to work is by working directly with landowners, both large commercial landowners and smaller family woodlot owners to provide incentive payments to help cover the cost of actually doing climate smart forestry on the ground," said Andi Colnes with the New England Forestry Foundation, a lead partner in the project.

Colnes said if forests are managed well, New England could meet up to 30% of its climate goals by 2050.

The five-year pilot project will demonstrate how improved methods of growing and cutting trees works across 70,000 acres, with a goal of eventually expanding to millions of acres.