Paul Martin spent more than a decade searching for land in northern Wisconsin.
After finding a property that felt right, he and his wife Laura asked the owners if they could camp on the land before making an offer.
“We walked in and camped on one of the little peninsulas,” said Martin. “We saw otters and we heard beavers all the time. We didn't see the whole property at that point, but we were pretty, pretty excited about it.”
The Martins bought the 86-acre forested property, with a variety of tree species, low rolling hills, bogs, and two deep, small lakes.
They’re content to let those woods be.
For the last two years, roughly half of their land has been enrolled in the Family Forest Carbon Program. It calculates how much carbon is stored in trees, then sells the credits to companies to offset their carbon emissions.
“It looked like their goals aligned with what we wanted to do,” said Martin of first seeing the credit program’s advertisement on Facebook.
Growing up on a farm with a love of the outdoors, Martin has grown more concerned about the impact climate change is having.
“I'm afraid that there's a tipping point where we're starting to accelerate. I mean just the intensity of hurricanes and things like that, those are just some indications of how far we've gone,” said Martin. “I think it could get a lot worse in the next 10, 20 years.”
The program gives them about $200 per acre, which is paid out over 20 years, with higher payouts in the first and last years.
“It's not a huge amount but pays about a third of the property taxes, which is just kind of a nice benefit.”
The growing carbon market for forests
The voluntary carbon market is expected to see large growth in the next few years.
It was worth roughly $2 billion in 2021. It’s expected to reach up to $40 billion in the next five years.
When it comes to carbon credits from forestland, the market has traditionally been open to corporations or governments that own thousands of acres of trees.
More programs are popping up to help smaller landowners get into the carbon market. Family forests, those owned by individuals or families, make up nearly 40% of all forestland in the U.S.
The Family Forest Carbon Program, which the Martins are a part of, is a relatively new program from the American Forest Foundation in partnership with the Nature Conservancy.
Its focus is on getting those people who own smaller forests into the carbon market — with as little as 30 acres of qualified trees.
It currently works with forestland owners in states along the Appalachian Mountains and the Upper Midwest.
“The primary thing that we do is really encourage landowners to leave their woodland alone as far as harvesting goes,” said Outreach Forester Ethan Ragan. Ragan oversees the more than 5,600 acres in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan that are currently enrolled in the program.
One of the program’s goals is to increase the amount of carbon a forest can offset.
This generally means no harvesting for 20 years and working with a forester to see where improvements can be made.
For example, the main work the Martins will do on their land is cut back ash trees as they start to pop up to allow for better growth of tree species that aren’t as susceptible to disease.
“We recognize that landowners really have a deep love for their property,” said Ragan, “and we want to make sure that we are taking that in as we work with them to conserve their forests, give them the tools to do it, and provide them with that annual financial ability to implement some of these projects.”
The Family Forest Carbon Program has different levels of carbon credit pricing. The basic one starts at $200 per acre, but if the carbon market does better during the 20 year contract, landowners get a bigger payout.
The value of the carbon sequestration is found through a specific methodology that compares the carbon sequestration generated by a plot of land to 10 other properties of similar species that will be harvested.
“Our goal is to just shift the view and help people realize that what they have in their own backyard can be something that they can greatly utilize to sequester carbon,” said Ragan.
The Family Forest Carbon Program works with brokers directly in the carbon market to sell carbon credits to companies looking to reach reduced emission goals.
It only works with companies that have or are implementing practices to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
“We want companies that are up to date with their technology, but because technology hasn't advanced enough, they just need that little bit to get over the mark to be able to meet their offset goals,” said Ragan.
‘A win-win’
This gets at the heart of a common criticism of the carbon market: that companies can buy carbon credits and say they’re reducing carbon emissions, while still polluting.
“The criticism, it's real, but it's not something that we can avoid,” said Dr. Sawssan Boufous, an extension specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Extension Economics at New Mexico State University.
She says carbon markets do help companies, but there’s a bigger benefit for landowners and the overall effort to curb climate change.
Boufous calls it a win-win strategy. It’s a win for companies wanting to reach their emission goals, but she believes it can be a bigger win for landowners who get a financial incentive while also keeping the land as forests.
The U.S. could lose up to 15 million acres of forestland to development by 2060, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
“If we all put effort into preserving what we have, then that effort will be stronger than anything else,” said Boufous.
Because the carbon market is still relatively new and still changing, Boufous does recommend forestland owners or farmers that are considering selling carbon credits generated by their land to do their research.
The contracts typically mean changing current land use, which might not work for them. In forestland, that usually means no harvesting for the length of the contract, which may not be as financially beneficial.
Boufous would like to see the carbon market focus more on the producers.
“We need to hear from them and make the programs fit their needs,” said Boufous. “If we can do that, yes, it will have a big impact.”
National Indian Carbon Coalition
The National Indian Carbon Coalition works on behalf of tribes to make sure they’re prioritized if they choose to sell carbon credits.
In 2022, tribes generated more than $79 million in revenue from harvesting timber. The carbon market could be an alternative way for them to generate income.
“What we are starting to see is that many tribes want to get out of that commercial logging operations, or at least not as heavily as they are, and one of the opportunities to do so is through carbon credit generation,” said Bryan Van Stippen, the director of the National Indian Carbon Coalition.
NICC is a tribally-led organization, with Van Stippen himself being a member of the Oneida Nation.
So far they’ve worked with tribes in Montana, Mississippi, Minnesota and Michigan.
A large part of this work is making sure tribal interests take priority. This includes making sure the tribes get their share of the payout and that the credits are only being sold to companies the tribes approve of.
“Usually that means we kick out any sort of oil and gas operator, any sort of pipeline operator that moves fossil fuel sources, any sort of mining operator and even financial institutions that support those activities,” Van Stippen said.
He sees it as a way for tribes to protect natural resources, still make money and be part of an effort to combat climate change.
“Our perspective is that this is one of the tools in the tool chest. It's never going to truly be the number one solution to address climate change,” said Van Stippen.
Back in northern Wisconsin, Paul Martin agrees.
He’s happy that their timberland will remain untouched, but he wants to do more to reduce his carbon footprint.
“I'm not feeling like this is enough,” said Martin. “But it's a step. It's a small step.”
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.