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- The development of the
carbon beneficial practices,

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where The Nature Conservancy worked

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with The Northern Institute
of Applied Climate Science.

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And then, I will move towards describing

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the forest carbon modeling results

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for a select few practices.

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And then lastly, provide
a summary of the practices

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that have been selected
for the Northeast Pilot

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that will be launched this coming spring.

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So the Family Forest Carbon Program,

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just some background and context.

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The American Forest Foundation,
and The Nature Conservancy

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have partnered to design a program

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which addresses the obstacles
of family forest landowners

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face in participating
in the carbon markets.

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Historically, carbon markets
have only been available

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to large landowners, typically
over 2000 acres in size.

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So this program really
addresses that issue.

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The Family Forest Carbon Program

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is underway and being implemented

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currently within the Central Appalachians.

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It was first launched
in Pennsylvania in 2020,

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and since has expanded to
West Virginia and Maryland.

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And so currently, we're
looking to launch pilots

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in this coming year in the Northeast,

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and then also in the Northwoods.

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The Learning Pilot in the Northeast

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will cover all of Vermont,

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most of Massachusetts, and a
portion of Eastern New York.

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And as I indicated,
this program will really

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be addressing the issue of making

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smaller landowners eligible.

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So landowners that have
eligible forest stands

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that are non-industrial,

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private landowners
between 30 and 2,400 acres

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will be eligible for the program.

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There can't be any
restrictions on the land

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that excludes timber harvest,

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and there needs to be operable
forest harvest conditions

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with sufficient commercial stocking.

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And then there's some
additional eligibility criteria

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tied to specific practices.

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So what makes the Family
Forest Carbon Program

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unique or different

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than a traditional forest carbon project

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is that the Family Forest Carbon Program

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pays landowners to implement
specific practices.

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So they're being paid to implement

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a carbon beneficial practice

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as opposed to a traditional
forest carbon project

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pays a landowner for the
carbon that's sequestered

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and credits that are sold.

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The FFCP monitors practice
implementation on every property,

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but only monitors carbon
values at the landscape level

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using a random sampling design.

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And that methodology,

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it can be found on Verra's website

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as the Improved Forest
Management Methodology.

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Within the Family Forest Carbon Program,

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additionality is determined
after the practices

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are implemented, and it uses

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a paired inventory plot
design on select properties

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compared to a composite control baseline,

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which I'll be describing
in more detail in the talk.

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So essentially, the baseline is being then

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compared to the monitoring
plots on the property

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determined carbon stock change.

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And so this is very different
than a traditional project

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where additionality is
determined from a model baseline

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at the initial conception of the project.

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The monitoring costs are high

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but they're spread across many,

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many properties that are
involved in the program.

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So just to further illustrate

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how carbon benefits are evaluated,

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this figure here depicts a property

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that would be enrolled in the program,

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and the carbon stock
change would be evaluated

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on forest inventory
plots on that property.

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That property would be then compared to

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US Forest Service, Forest
Inventory and Analysis plots

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in the surrounding landscape

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that make up the composite baseline.

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The difference between the stock change

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on the property compared to the baseline

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would determine the carbon benefits

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over the enrollment period.

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So our project goals then
we're really to estimate

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and predict and model the
carbon benefits and stock change

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on a handful of draft
practices on private forests

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located within the pilot area.

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And so, the purpose was then

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so that we could select practices

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that could be offered
within the pilot program

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that were viable and financially feasible,

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refine the practice specifications,

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and then to determine payment
rates to the landowner.

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So next,

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I'd like to go to shift,

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to how the practices were developed.

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As I indicated,

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The Nature Conservancy worked

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with the Northern Institute
of Applied Climate Science

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to draft these 10 practices.

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NIACS and TNC gave an
extensive literature review

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and then held a series of workshops

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to develop these practices.

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These 10 practices can be found

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within the Healthy Forest
for our Future guide.

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This is A Management Guide
to Increase Carbon Storage

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and Adaptation in Northeast Forests.

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And if you're interested this

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I can put a link in the comment section.

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And so, out of those 10 practices,

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we work with the Spatial Informatics Group

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to model the carbon benefit

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or stock change on four practices.

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A deferred harvest practice,

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we're calling Growing Older Forests.

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In two harvest practices,

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one called, creating gaps
to promote regeneration.

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A second, retaining more
carbon and thinning,

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and then last practice,
promoting regeneration

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by treating competing invasive vegetation.

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So we worked with the
Spatial Informatics Group

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to model the stock change

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on a forest inventory and analysis plots

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to determine that stock change
on a composite baseline,

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and also on the modeled harvest practices.

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Forest Service Inventory of plots

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were selected throughout the region

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based on private ownership

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falling within the Lower New England,

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Green Mountain ecoregions.

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We looked at two forest type groups:

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Maple/beech/birch and Oak/hickory,

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and plots had to meet a
minimum volume criteria

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of having greater than 2000 board feet

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of commercial species on those plots.

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That resulted in 543 forest
inventory analysis plots

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that we included in the analysis

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that span of the two eco-regions

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and two forest types.

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So, I just like to give
you a general stance

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of the methods that we used

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that SIG put together to
evaluate annual stock change,

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within the baseline.

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And so, to evaluate annual
carbon stock change,

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we used FIA plots across
four remeasurement cycles.

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Stock change were evaluated at the end

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of that remeasurement cycle

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and was subtracted by the
beginning of the cycle.

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So determining annual years,

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we looked at the difference
between T2 and T1,

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divided by the number of years
in the remeasurement cycle.

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So on average,

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this baseline represents
carbon stock change

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over a 10 to 12 year period

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within the FIA agreement
of remeasurement cycle.

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So for the prescriptions,

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we looked at stock change
over a 20 year period of time.

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So these were modeled utilizing

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the forest vegetation simulator

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over a 20 year period of time,

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starting in 2000 and ending in 2020.

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So this is the results for
the deferred harvest practice

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called Growing Older Forests.

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I'd like to first point your attention

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to the results of the composite baseline,

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which is just stock
change on those FIA plots

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over a 10 year period of time.

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So within the
Maple/Beech/Birch forest type,

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on average,

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there was around a one metric
ton of CO2e per acre per year

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within the Maple/Beech/Birch forest type

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in both ecoregions.

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The baseline was significantly higher

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within the Oak/Hickory forest type

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in the Lower New England region,

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which indicates that
there's much less removal,

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so harvest within this
forest type and region,

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which you'll see indicates the feasibility

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and determines potential feasibility

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of some of the practices.

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So when compared to the deferred harvest

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over a 20 year period of time,

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carbon benefits range on the
Maple/Beech/Birch forest type

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approximately two metric tons
of CO2e per acre per year,

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it was about half of that

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within the Oak/Hickory forest type.

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So about one ton.

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We also looked at the creating gaps

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for regeneration practice.

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The carbon benefits come from reducing

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the total harvestable area

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while retaining carbon
in large diameter trees.

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We modeled out two treatment areas,

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removing 10% of a stand,

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as well as removing 20% of the stand.

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The harvest was conducted in the midpoint

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in the project period

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while retaining those
four large-diameter trees.

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The removing 10% of the area
resulted in approximately

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removal of 8% of the baseline area

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while moving a 20% of the area

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resulted in 16% of the basal area

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while retaining those large
diameter trees in the gaps.

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So when we looked at the
results of this practice

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for the Maple/Beech/Birch
forest type in the two ecoregion

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compared to the baseline,

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we found in general,

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if you remove 20% of the stand

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within a harvest during that period,

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there would be approximately

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about one metric ton per acre per year.

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However, removing 20% in
the Oak/Hickory forest type

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actually had no carbon benefit.

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So, this indicated that this practice

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was not going to be feasible

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in this ecoregion and this forest type.

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We also modeled out a thinning practice.

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The thinning practice
produces carbon benefits

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by removing intermediate
to co-dominant trees

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while re-increasing the average diameter

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of the residual stand.

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And SIG modeled out

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three different thinning scenarios.

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Thinning to the A-line,

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thinning to the midpoint
between the A and B-lines,

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and then thinning to the B-line.

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These thinning scenarios
range in removal of basal area

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from removal of 10% to 27%.

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And so, these are the results
of the thinning practice

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compared to the composite baseline.

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You can see within the
Maple/Beech/Birch forest type

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in both ecoregions,

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there was a moderate carbon benefit

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in modeling to the A and midpoint B-line.

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So it range from 1/3 to .7

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metric tons of CO2e per acre per year.

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There weren't some differences
between the two eco regions,

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and thinning to the B-line

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resulted in minimal or no carbon benefit

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compared to that composite baseline.

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So when we look at the
Oak/Hickory forest type,

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only thinning to the A-line

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which is a very light thinning,

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produced any carbon benefits.

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So, even thinning to the
AB-line or to the B-line

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had no carbon benefit over
that 20 year period of time.

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So again, making this practice difficult

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to be offered within
that 20 year timeframe

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within this forest type and ecoregion.

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- (indistinct) about four minutes left

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of the session just so you know.

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So, maybe wrap up and so we
can get to the questions.

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- Sure. Great.

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Thank you.

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So we also looked at treating
the competing invasive

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vegetation to promote regeneration.

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And I think this is an area that...

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but the results were inconclusive

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and so in the area of future results.

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So we ended up basically
offering two practices.

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Are gonna be offered by the
American Forest Foundation

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in the spring.

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And this practice, Growing Older Forests,

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which is deferred harvest
over a 20 year contract,

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as well as a practice we're
calling Enhance Your Woodland,

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which would allow landowners

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to remove up to a total
of 15% of the basal area

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within that 20 year period of time.

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So within that, a landowner
could implement a gap harvest

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or a thinning or combination of both.

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But it's just to note that this practice

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will only be offered

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within the Maple/Beech/Birch forest type.

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So kind of in conclusion

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of the pilot we'll launch this spring.

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Two practices will be offered.

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We'll be making payment
information available soon.

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We're still interested in researching

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the viability and feasibility
of other practices.

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And we're gonna be
expanding the carbon benefit

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modeling to the remaining
portions of New York

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So with that, I thank you
and, answer any questions.

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- We do have a question,

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a couple of questions in the chat.

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The first one being,

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can you comment on whether forest soils

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are being considered as well
as above ground biomass,

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or if there are future considerations

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regarding forest soils?

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- Yeah, we're not including,

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so this is just above-ground.

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So this is the above-ground
live and deadpools.

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We have not included forest soils.

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From what we understand forest
soils are relatively stable,

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but certainly that's the
area for future research.

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- And then I think Jim
has his hand raised.

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Jim, if you wanna unmute and ask.

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- [Jim] Sure.

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I noticed a couple of things.

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The eligibility 30 acres.

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I happen to own 45 acres,

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but it's non-contiguous.

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Is this limited to just
a contiguous 30 acres?

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That's the one thing.

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But more importantly,

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for people that are private land owners

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who are not necessarily
doing timber removal

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00:17:44,950 --> 00:17:49,530
or other for-profit activities,

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is there any effort underway

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00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,900
to disseminate these best practices

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to the population in general,

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00:17:57,030 --> 00:17:58,850
even if they may not be interested

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00:17:58,850 --> 00:18:03,317
in actually a financial
carbon benefit incentive?

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00:18:05,220 --> 00:18:06,840
- Great question, James.

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00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,780
I don't know the details on
the part parcel aggregation,

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but I think that that would be eligible.

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00:18:13,180 --> 00:18:16,090
And then, thank you for promoting

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the Healthy Forest for the Future guide

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that has the carbon beneficial practices.

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00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:24,590
You can see Laura's posted
the link to that guide.

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00:18:24,590 --> 00:18:28,260
So there's 10 practices there
that we feel pretty strongly

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have carbon benefits,

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00:18:29,550 --> 00:18:34,550
as well as improve
adaptation and resilience.

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00:18:34,770 --> 00:18:37,450
So, I think that's a great place.

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00:18:37,450 --> 00:18:39,460
And there are potentially
these other funding sources

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to implement those practices.

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00:18:43,250 --> 00:18:45,750
- Great. One final question from the chat

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00:18:45,750 --> 00:18:48,240
is your thinning prescription was supposed

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00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:49,660
to increase the QMD,

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00:18:49,660 --> 00:18:50,820
but your results show it...

335
00:18:50,820 --> 00:18:53,480
I'm assuming that says decrease.

336
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:54,616
How come?

337
00:18:54,616 --> 00:18:56,580
- Yeah. So the...

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00:18:56,580 --> 00:19:01,580
What we were aiming to is to
have less than a 10% increase

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00:19:03,860 --> 00:19:04,880
within that practice.

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00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,410
So over time, outside
of that 20 year window,

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00:19:08,410 --> 00:19:12,730
we believe that the average stand diameter

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00:19:12,730 --> 00:19:13,960
would actually increase,

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00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,050
but after that initial harvest,

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00:19:16,050 --> 00:19:19,933
we did see moderate
decreases in the queue.

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00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:23,183
But that's a great question. Thank you.

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00:19:24,180 --> 00:19:25,830
- Great. Well, that's about time.

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00:19:25,830 --> 00:19:27,240
So thanks so much, Chris.

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00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,460
And we'll be moving on

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00:19:29,460 --> 00:19:31,920
to our next contributed
talks in five minutes.

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00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:33,680
So, see you soon.

351
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:34,900
- Thank you very much.