Finite Carbon and Potlatch Corporation announced the successful completion and registration of the Finite Carbon – Moro Big Pine CE Improved Forest Management Early Action Offset Project with the California Air Resources Board. Located on 15,809 acres in south-central Arkansas, Moro Big Pine is the nation’s first and only improved forest management (IFM) compliance offset project completed for a publicly-traded timber real estate investment trust.

Timberlands

Finite Carbon and Potlatch register forest carbon project with California Air Resources Board compliance offset market

Jan 09, 2014. /Lesprom Network/. Finite Carbon and Potlatch Corporation announced the successful completion and registration of the Finite Carbon – Moro Big Pine CE Improved Forest Management Early Action Offset Project with the California Air Resources Board. Located on 15,809 acres in south-central Arkansas, Moro Big Pine is the nation’s first and only improved forest management (IFM) compliance offset project completed for a publicly-traded timber real estate investment trust, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.

Finite Carbon provided all financing, development, and offset transaction support for the Moro Big Pine project which was initially developed and registered under the Climate Action Reserve forest project protocol. Upon registration with the California ARB greenhouse gas emissions trading program on December 26, 2013, Moro Big Pine received an initial issuance of 220,208 ARB compliance carbon offsets.

“The Moro Big Pine project effectively merges habitat conservation for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, industrial timber management, and carbon yields,” said Eric Cremers, President and Chief Operating Officer for Potlatch. “The increased carbon uptake and storage realized by the project results in carbon revenues that compliment traditional returns for Potlatch. Moro Big Pine demonstrates how management for conservation values and long term sustainable forestry can have synergy with the regulatory carbon offset market.”

Potlatch owns and manages over 1.4 million acres across Arkansas, Idaho, and Minnesota. All Potlatch lands managed for forest products are third-party certified to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard. Potlatch began assembling the Moro Big Pine property in 1951 which now harbors Arkansas’ largest private land population of federally protected Red-cockaded woodpeckers. In 2007, the property was placed under what remains the largest conservation easement in Arkansas history and allows and promotes active forest management and public access. With the completion of the forest carbon project, the property is a showcase nationally for integrated forest, wildlife, and ecosystem value management.

“Registration of Moro Big Pine with the California Air Resources Board is another sign that California’s carbon market is real and maturing,” said Finite Carbon president Sean Carney. “The project demonstrates how industrial and institutional forest owners can participate in the carbon market and improve returns from their forests.” Potlatch’s Moro Big Pine is the second IFM project that Finite Carbon has financed, completed, and registered with the ARB in the past two months and is among over ten listed compliance projects that Finite Carbon expects to complete and register with ARB in the coming months.

Finite Carbon is America’s leading developer of forest carbon offsets. Combining unparalleled project development experience with extensive carbon market knowledge, Finite Carbon’s in-house team of forest carbon experts offers a single-source solution for creating and monetizing carbon offsets and the most comprehensive forest carbon project development and commercialization service in the US.

Potlatch is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) with approximately 1.4 million acres of timberland in Arkansas, Idaho and Minnesota. Potlatch, a verified forest practices leader, is committed to providing superior returns to stockholders through long-term stewardship of its forest resources.