BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the first time ever, small forest owners can now access the same carbon market as timber companies to sell carbon credits from their forests through ecoPartners’ platform Forest Carbon Works. This innovative technology provides an alternative for small forest landowners to broaden their revenues beyond timber and cultivate their forests’ ecological value with a fast track to the carbon market. By monetizing the forest as an asset, family forest owners – like Jon and Janice Stewart who are receiving approximately $10,000 annually – can now be paid to sustainably manage their properties.
“Forest Carbon Works enables me to harness the power of the forest our family has owned since 1892,” says forest owner and retired US Forest Service employee Jon Stewart. “ecoPartners technology enables me to monetize the carbon stored by my forest to generate revenue while doing something good for the environment to address climate change.” In their family for four generations, the 120-acre property is located outside of Portland, Oregon, and has been under Jon and his sister Janice’s ownership since the seventies.
The property has been managed for purposes of recreation, promotion of wildlife habitat, conservation and some passive timber harvest. Forest Carbon Works supports Jon and Janice’s continued efforts to sustainably manage the property and combat climate change. “I think we have to be actively dealing with climate change,” Jon explains. “My goal is to show that there are ways, particularly for small woodland owners, to actively step forward to address climate change. Forest Carbon Works is a prime example.”
Forest Carbon Works makes it possible for landowners to measure the carbon stored by their forests in as little as 50 acres using a smartphone app, where previous measurement costs made participation too expensive. Forest Carbon Works reduces the cost to a $75.00 application fee where previously costs exceeded $250,000.
“This pioneering technology ensures the legacy of conservation for generations by creating a new revenue stream,” says Kyle Holland, Founding Director of ecoPartners. “All you need is access to the internet to get started.”
Landowners submit a simple online application to determine eligibility. If eligible, they receive a specially-modified smartphone to measure the trees on their property. Using the smartphone is intuitive and user-friendly so no prior forestry experience is needed. It can take as little as a few days to measure the forest, depending on property size. Without Forest Carbon Works, taking these necessary forest measurements is an expensive, prohibitive process.
ecoPartners’ Forest Carbon Works smartphone app quickly and simply collects information which is used to measure the amount of carbon sequestered by the forest. Based on this amount, landowners receive annual payments. Forest Carbon Works is currently waiving the membership fee for a limited time, saving landowners $1,250 who apply before November 2018.
About ecoPartners:
ecoPartners is a leader in technical consulting and development services for forest carbon offset projects throughout the United States and around the world. The Forest Carbon Works platform is specifically designed to let US forest owners quantify and sell the carbon sequestration value of their forests. The Carbon Works App is an intuitive, user-friendly tool that makes exploring one’s forest and measuring its carbon content a walk through the woods. Measurements are as easy as taking pictures: if you can use a smartphone, then you’re ready to apply to Forest Carbon Works.
About Jon Stewart:
Jon Stewart’s forest property has been in the family since 1892. Jon has over 33 years’ experience working for the US Forest Service in a firefighting capacity with roles ranging from a smokejumper to a heli-attack foreman. His background also includes experience as a backcountry ranger, volunteer program manager, public affairs officer and executive director of the Northwest Service Academy. Jon has been an active member of Clackamas County’s Small Woodland Association for over four decades, as well as a small woodland representative on the Northwest Regional Forest Practices Committee for the past 25 years.
Jon is also an avid hiker and has written three books which highlight many issues related to climate change noted in over 12,000 miles walking the trails of the American West. These include Pilgrimage to the Edge: The Pacific Crest Trail and the U.S. Forest Service; Walking Away from the Land: Change at the Crest of a Continent; and The Plateau of Doubt: Hiking the Hayduke Trail across the Colorado Plateau. He resides in Bend, Oregon with his wife Marty.
https://www.forestcarbonworks.org
