Anyone ever heard of this, or participate in it? I got an email today from an outdoors website... they usually send hunting-related emails. This is the website of them... link

Anyways they sent this email about this program. The first thing I noticed was that it was in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. Are they not an anti group? I thought they were...... So this group purportedly gives you information on how to manage your timber land... and pays you for not cutting your timber. I checked their website to see if we were eligible... we are not..... they do not cover MS yet...but appear to cover most of the eastern US. Here is the link for the program

Anyways, just wondering if maybe anyone here is in this program or knows anything about it? And why a hunting website would be promoting a program ran by what I thought was an anti group...........

Here is what the email said:

Well-managed forests mean thriving ecosystems, cleaner water, and abundant wildlife.

Created by two nonprofit organizations, the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, the Family Forest Carbon Program helps forest landowners interested in long-term, sustainable management resulting in healthier and higher-quality trees. This program helps landowners improve the health of their woodlands through free professional forestry guidance and support with developing a forest management plan, while also providing guaranteed annual payments.

No upfront costs, no change in land ownership, and no impact on your land rights, just expert support and guaranteed payments.

Join 1,000+ landowners representing over 150,000 acres enrolled, receiving more than 38 million dollars. Check your eligibility and contact the Family Forest Carbon Program to do right by your land and leave a lasting legacy.

Anything with "carbon" in the name would raise my guard for sure.

x2
And watch them they might be wantin to inject some of Pawnee's BS beside your water well!

Be very careful and do your due diligence before entering into any carbon credit program. FFCP has a couple of ways for small hardwood timberland owners to sell C offsets, but both are a lien on your deed for 20 years. One allows minimal timber harvest pays about $10/ acre and the other does not allow any timber harvest pays around $20/ acre. Payment is , annually, and they only pay 20% up front. Then you are subject to a prolonged payment schedule. Also, you have to agree to let them and possibly a 3rd party have access to your land .

I have talked with them many times, and bottom line they are just not paying enough to offset all the encumbrances placed on your property for 20 years.

If you have several thousand acres of northern hardwood timberland you may be able to cut a better deal.

Absolutely not. It a scheme to trap the gullible and tie up land into third party plans. And I can guarantee they wouldn't be after it if they weren't making a buck off it somewhere.

At best they acquire enough acreage under their control to be able to "sell" bogus "carbon credits" to others or at worst tie up land in ways to strip rural residents of rights and jobs.

Anything, and I mean anything involved with the Nature Conservancy does not have a sportsman’s ideology in mind…. Just sayin.

They function basically as an easement granting certain legal right to use of the property. Usually for long terms and they absolutely will ruthlessly enforce it. They may also have negative impact of state taxes.

Yes, they make the lions share of money off from your carbon sink. I also forgot to mention, if you decide to drop out of the program before the end of the 20 year agreement, you have to pay back all the money you received.

Plus if you have multiple parcels of timberland, they want all parcels enrolled. They call this leakage if you enroll one property and extensively harvest timber on another parcel.

It can prevent proper management such as salvage cuts to prevent the spread of disease or pest and even controlled burns.

I don't know about all that. The Nature Conservancy has been paying me to trap predators on their land for over 20 years.
They allow deer hunting on some of their land around here, including running deer hounds.
They are all about trying to tackle the number one issue for wildlife as human population rises. Loss of suitable habitat for wildlife.
I would not throw them in the Preservationist boat. They are more about conservation. That is a significant difference.

And, when I was a member of the Sierrra club many years ago, they said one basic tenant was they recognize hunting as a legitimate management practice. BUT, Life in the big city means a LOT of libtards that took over the local organization, and I ended up quitting because of the harassment of a vocal few.

Have hunted on Nature Conservancy land before. Pretty easy and surprisingly good hunts.

I looked into it.
When I saw no cutting of trees I was out.
I'm all for habitat and improving or restoring but to do so I need to cut some trees.
It seem as if they wanted to leave it all to nature, which if there was enough natural land 'd be OK with it.
But with what little is left I think there needs to be active management.

Nature conservancy and other such organizations that manage land from what I have seen all recognize the need for management of the animals that live there.
Deer especially.

Don't know much about this carbon credit deal, but TNC has bought many thousands of acres of inaccessible private land and flipped it to NYS. Or they've held it in conservation easements... Much of it is open to all forms of outdoor recreation, including hunting, fishing, trapping

In my area of northern NY State , TNC owns 15-20,000 acres and they do allow hunting and lease some of it to private hunt clubs. But for all here that think they are not a threat. The first thing they did after purchasing theses lands, was to BAN all TRAPPING !

True for the land they flipped to NYS, but on Tug Hill TNC banned all trapping on land they retained.