MAINE PUBLIC • April 27, 2023
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has kicked off what's being billed as a "transformative effort" to restore New England's forests through climate-smart forestry practices. Known as the "Climate Smart Commodities Partnership," the $30 million program aims to encourage forest landowners to store more carbon on their land while also expanding markets for sustainably grown forest products. "The way this project is going to work is by working directly with landowners to provide incentive payments to help cover the cost of actually doing climate smart forestry on the ground," said Andi Colnes with the New England Forestry Foundation, a lead partner in the project. The five-year pilot project will demonstrate how improved methods of growing and cutting trees works across 70,000 acres, with a goal of eventually expanding to millions of acres.