Western Reserve Land Conservancy and Davey Resource Group Secure Major Funding for Northeast Ohio 

U.S. Forest Service Awards a Nearly $2 Million Grant to City Forest Credits to Connect Small-Acreage Forest Owners in and around Cities to Carbon Markets

Western Reserve Land Conservancy is pleased to announce the U.S. Forest Service awarded City Forest Credits, a non-profit carbon registry, nearly $2 million to help land trusts, small-acreage forest owners, and underserved landowners connect to carbon markets. The Land Conservancy and Davey Resource Group are local grant partners. The funding will help connect small private forest landowners (>15 acre), and land trusts, like Western Reserve Land Conservancy, to emerging carbon markets that can provide additional funding streams for long-term conservation and stewardship.

The grant team includes City Forest Credits, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, and Davey Resource Group, a subsidiary of The Davey Tree Expert Company, who will establish a Carbon Connection Teams to provide technical assistance to small-acreage landowners to navigate carbon crediting. Historically, smaller landowners near cities have not had access to the carbon markets because carbon developers and registries have focused on large exurban forest (>5,000 acre) projects.

The trees and forests in and around cities are extraordinarily valuable, bringing environmental and social benefits to millions of people. Given the significant population of Ohio, Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s mission includes protecting land across rural, urban, and peri-urban landscapes to create healthy environments and connect residents to nature.

Over the past 70 years, Ohio has lost significant forest land due to conversion for development as population centers expand into rural areas. Working to protect trees within the peri-urban landscape, where conversion pressure for development is greatest, is critical to provide clean air, clean water, and open space for people to recreate. The conservation of small forests where people live is more important now than ever. And with funds from U.S. Forest Service and the collaboration with City Forest Credits and our land trust colleagues we can advance forest conservation efforts nationally.

“City Forest Credits’ carbon credit registry creates unique opportunities to leverage our existing strengths in land conservation to create additional funding opportunities to care for the important natural resources that we protect. We are grateful to U.S. Forest Service for providing us funds to promote this work with our grant partners, not only locally, but nationally” says Alex Czayka, Chief Conservation Officer, Western Reserve Land Conservancy.