Earth & Sky

Carbon offsets could be boon to private forests

Neil Sampson: The opportunity to demonstrate and sell carbon offsets from improved forest management and from forest protection is just now beginning to be experimented with in the United States.

That’s Neil Sampson, president of the Sampson Group, a forestry consulting firm. He’s talking about the market for carbon offsets – tradeable measures of a forest’s proven capacity to store carbon. Here’s how they work.

Neil Sampson: We can say how much carbon was added to wood stock in that forest. We convert it to the carbon dioxide equivalent, and that becomes what we take to market.

The market for these “carbon credits” might grow if polluters become legally required to purchase them, to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions. If so, this could change the face of forests.

Neil Sampson: When we commit people to manage for carbo, they make sure they fill in those areas of forests which are underdeveloped. And people will plant additional forest.

That not only means healthier forests, but less development – and more income for landowners.

Neil Sampson: It might make the difference between keeping the forest and needing to sell it.

Our thanks today to the American Forest Foundation, leading the way in conservation and education.