Developed by the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) enables family forest owners to access carbon markets, empowering them to help address climate change while earning income from their land. We’ve been taking a long and careful look at the program, and we’re impressed so far by what we’re seeing. The program truly appears poised to help sequester carbon and enhance clean water, flood resilience, and wildlife habitat, and financially benefit landowners for doing so.

Rather than trying to measure carbon in the forest, the program measures compliance with best management practices (which, when in place, help maintain a forest’s natural capacity to sequester and store carbon). In its initial phase of development, FFCP offers two possible land use categories for enrolling forestland:  (1) Grow Older Forests and (2) Enhance Your Woodland. The Enhance Your Woodlot category appears to apply well to forest landowners enrolled in the Current Use program.  

It’s not a free lunch—there are landowner responsibilities (including a 20-year commitment) as well as benefits. We’re currently working with a handful of landowners to navigate the system and work out the bugs for enrollment and participation. If you’re interested, let us know by dropping us an email (info@familyforests.org), and we’ll add you to the list. Please note that it will take time to streamline the process and enroll new forests.