The best way to fight climate change is planting trees
and keeping the ones we have standing
LandownerS
Let us help you earn revenue for preserving native forests - Oak and Redwood are two of the most common (and threatened in California), but any native forest will do.
We will handle all of the work to measure CO2 sequestered each year, validate the health of ecosystems and biodiversity on-site, and then create high quality carbon and biodiversity credits that can be sold.
Funds are paid per month/acre and are in addition to the revenue you earn from having us harvest acorn via our Wild Food program. All you have to do is safeguard your forests, and cash a check.
This program is available to landowners for both old growth and previously logged oak and and redwood forests.
Business Owners
We will have high quality carbon and biodiversity offsets available soon, watch this space!
Many landowners would like to keep their forests intact, but feel economic pressure to log or sell.
Our Carbon & Biodiversity program exists to provide an alternative.
California’s Oak woodlands are particularly suited to carbon credit programs because they store up to 80 tons of carbon per acre - and capture an additional 1.5 tons each year when maintained. Redwood forests can store more than 10x that - up to 890 tons/acre, making them the most carbon-dense forests in the world. Unfortunately, 98% of California’s historic Redwood forests are gone. Preserving what’s left and replanting in their historic range is therefore critical.
That makes the preservation of these irreplaceable forests a priority for anyone who wants to slow climate change. Carbon credit agreements preserving existing forests often come with an upfront payment per ton of carbon already sequestered, rewarding landowners for protecting valuable ecosystems. Reforestation projects may initially receive smaller rebate payments, but annual income grows as new forests mature.
These carbon credits can be supplemented by biodiversity credits, which reward landowners based on habitat value and species diversity. Oak forests support more biodiversity than any other North American Biome - over 6,000 species. Redwood forests are also a biodiversity hotspot.
Learn more about the tremendous impact you can have by preserving and replanting on your land by downloading our recent white paper on carbon and biodiversity in California’s Oak forests.
YOu CAN HELP PRESERVE FORESTS
How it Works
1) A landowner commits to preserving or restoring Native forests to store carbon
Landowners can be an individual, tribe, or company. At Manzanita Cooperative, our partners typically agree to protect existing forests for at least 10 years or to plant and maintain new ones.
2) The carbon stored in these woodlands is measured
We use defined boundaries, soil sampling, satellite imagery, and thorough documentation through approved methodologies or measurement, reporting and validation (MRV). This includes direct soil carbon measurement through Haney sample testing, and characterizing soils mineral and biological-derived oxygen demand. Additional near-infrared and other indirect measurement techniques can bolster directly measured soil carbon levels.
3) After verification, forestry carbon credits are issued and available for companies to purchase
Companies can voluntarily purchase carbon offsets, or do so to meet regulatory requirements through either direct transactions or an emerging open environmental asset marketplace.
California’s forests
are uniquely
important for
Carbon storage + habitat
In addition to providing habitat for more than 6,000 species, California’s Oak forests can store as much carbon per acre as a tropical rainforest. Our Redwoods sequester more carbon than any other forest in the world.
But for 200 years, our Oak and Redwood forests have been shrinking as development and farming replace habitat. Today, many of California’s Oaks are endangered, and 98% of our old growth Redwood is gone.
We can reverse this trend by removing the economic incentive to cut and paying people to keep forests standing.
Through partnerships with Indigenous practitioners, we may also be able to help land owners restore highly effective cultural burns that dramatically reduce wildfire risk - and cover costs from revenue earned.
Tribal partners can access these programs to finance land purchase agreements to reclaim traditional territories.