BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 15, 2021
A variety of groups are ramping up efforts to open up the multi-billion dollar carbon offset market to small forest landowners. They want their efforts to financially boost small landowners while also enlisting more corporate polluters to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change on the nation’s most forested state. In December, the Maine Climate Council called for the formation of a group to develop a voluntary forest carbon program. The program would provide financial incentives for the state’s 86,000 woodland owners with between 10 and 10,000 acres to “increase carbon storage in Maine’s forests” while “maintaining current timber harvest levels.” The state has not yet taken steps to convene the group. Separately, at least two private organizations, one of which was bought by oil giant BP in December, are planning to launch programs in 2021 that will combine smaller forest landowners’ property into large offset projects.