By Hannah Gillespie
Over 25,000 acres will remain undeveloped in Tennessee, Virginia and Eastern Kentucky through a $4.9 million grant awarded to The Nature Conservancy of Kentucky in December 2017 from the National Resources Conservation Service.
The funds will implement a program called Working Woodlands, which works with landowners to create a 10-year sustainable forest land management plan and Forest Stewardship Council certification, which opens the door to a wider timber market. This is at no upfront cost to the owner.
The Nature Conservancy sells the high-quality carbon offsets stored by these forests to BlueSource — a California company that provides capital for environmental markets — to cover the cost of the Forest Stewardship Council certification. The owner benefits through sales of carbon and FSC-certified timber.
In Pennsylvania, the program has already been successfully implemented by The Nature Conservancy and Bluesource since 2013.
The Working Woodlands program is open to eligible forestland owners in Pennsylvania and Kentucky with a minimum of 1,500 acres and at least 2,000 acres in Tennessee. The eligibility requirements for the Virginia program had not been released at press time.
“I know this has a potential to be a real boon for the regional economy,” Will Bowling with The Nature Conservancy of Kentucky told the Lexington-Herald Leader. “But in the long term, it will preserve one of the area’s most valuable assets — its forest.”
Related Articles
Latest News
More Stories
Neighbors Help Neighbors
A photo essay that celebrates the volunteer spirit of the grassroots group Hurricane Helene WNC and speaks to the resourcefulness, collaboration and hard work embodied by thousands and thousands of volunteers, first responders and aid workers across the region after Hurricane Helene.
Halloween Approaches, and Night School Is in Session
The House of Art in Bluefield, West Virginia, looks like a haunted tower, making it the perfect location for its sixth annual haunt event: Night School. The Night School will be open every Friday and Saturday night through Oct. 31.
‘The Most Perfect Act of Love’
Hundreds of people attended the second annual Affirming Sumner Pride celebration on a 24-acre farm dubbed “Fruity Farm” in Bethpage, Sumner County, Tennessee.
Signs of Life: Endangered Bats Found in Nantahala for First Time in More Than a Decade
In the Nantahala National Forest, a team of biologists spotted Indiana bats, an endangered species that hasn’t been seen in North Carolina for the last 11 years.
‘First Line of Defense’
During Hurricane Helene and its aftermath, rural fire departments and other first responder hubs played critical roles in keeping their communities safe, even without power and cut off from outside support for days or weeks after the storm. Two years later, plenty of work remains to ensure these hubs have the resources they need to operate day to day and be ready when emergencies or natural disasters strike.
The Rocky Road — and Bridge — to Recovery
Hurricane Helene is estimated to have damaged nearly 7,000 private roads and bridges in Western North Carolina. Two years later, many restoration projects are complete, but the journey hasn’t been easy — and isn’t over for others.
Leave a comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Leave a Comment