Carbon Sequestration- anybody make money doing this?

[Askel]

We live on 40 acres of forest land and the most we'll ever do with it is cut some trails for recreation and maybe a little bit of firewood here and there. So I've always been curious about trying to leverage it to make money selling carbon credits.   

To date, most of the opportunities I've found require much larger parcels of land to develop into sequestration projects. But these guys recently showed up on my radar: https://familyforestcarbon.org/

They work with a local forestry company I'm familiar with so seems pretty legit.  Initial phone call reveals that if I'm eligible, I can get $200/acre spread over 20 years.  Not huge money, but nothing to sneeze at for essentially doing nothing.

Anybody have any experience with them or other carbon sequestration programs? 

[lutorm]

How does carbon sequestration on forested land work? I understand if you had unforested land, then you could plant trees. But how do you make an already mature forest sequester carbon?

[secondcor521]

How does carbon sequestration on forested land work? I understand if you had unforested land, then you could plant trees. But how do you make an already mature forest sequester carbon?

Probably by not cutting down the existing trees.  Existing plant life sequesters carbon via photosynthesis.

[lutorm]

How does carbon sequestration on forested land work? I understand if you had unforested land, then you could plant trees. But how do you make an already mature forest sequester carbon?

Probably by not cutting down the existing trees.  Existing plant life sequesters carbon via photosynthesis.

Only to the extent that they grow. Sequestration refers to getting carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it somewhere it doesn't come back. New-growth forest may qualify since they make wood (though questionably, since it's very hard to make sure they don't die and decompose over a timescale of decades), but a mature forest where trees die and regrow in a steady state doesn't, because then the carbon is in a steady state.

Not cutting down large trees is good, but it's not carbon sequestration. It's more like avoiding carbon emissions, which doesn't count.

[GilesMM]

We live on 40 acres of forest land and the most we'll ever do with it is cut some trails for recreation and maybe a little bit of firewood here and there. So I've always been curious about trying to leverage it to make money selling carbon credits.   

To date, most of the opportunities I've found require much larger parcels of land to develop into sequestration projects. But these guys recently showed up on my radar: https://familyforestcarbon.org/

They work with a local forestry company I'm familiar with so seems pretty legit.  Initial phone call reveals that if I'm eligible, I can get $200/acre spread over 20 years.  Not huge money, but nothing to sneeze at for essentially doing nothing.

Anybody have any experience with them or other carbon sequestration programs?

Yes, I have done with my own property via a company that was doing one-year programs on even small parcels using remote sensing tech.  They won't continue as they got turned down on auctioning such short time periods and need a longer lock-in.


You would need some pretty rich acreage to get $200/acre.  I was getting about $25/acre with 80 foot tall Douglas firs.  You have redwoods? 


Keep in mind to be legit, you need to commit to logging the trees if you are NOT in the program.  Otherwise, it is sort of sham, which you do not want to be part of.  It would be offering carbon credits to polluters in return for your not logging the trees so your logging has to be legit.


I was also involved, via an HOA, in a much larger and more lucrative plan which was 100 years I think.  It was a lock-in with most of the cash up front and smaller payments along the way.  If the trees are ever cut, the money gets refunded.   In the end we didn't do it because we decided it was a sham as we were not serious about cutting the trees down.

[Askel]

Based on the area where they are offering it- it's all hardwood forests that have pretty much been clear cut sometime in the last 150 years. So I think the idea is there's still a lot more potential for growth and thus sequestration.  Interestingly the program does allow you to do some selective cutting- up to 20% I think the rep mentioned. Which I understand is necessary to help maintain healthy forests unless you want to go back to the old fashioned way of doing it- forest fires.   

We'll be cutting some trees- mainly for firewood, but that'll get nowhere near 20% over 20 years.

And while we have no plans to fully log it, it's one of those things you keep in your back pocket if things ever get dire. Sorta like pawning grandma's locket.

[Askel]

Yes, I have done with my own property via a company that was doing one-year programs on even small parcels using remote sensing tech.  They won't continue as they got turned down on auctioning such short time periods and need a longer lock-in.

Do you remember the name of the company? I'm curious just from a remote sensing nerd perspective.