The good folks at Making Connections News have a great story on the Appalachian Carbon Partnership, a project of MACED's (along with Rural Action and Appalachian Sustainable Development). ACP helps forest owners in Central Appalachia preserve their forests for future generations by selling the carbon offsets their forests generate. Because forest stewardship can be costly – and many family forest owners cut their timber to pay pressing bills – offset payments can really make a difference. Here's what Making Connections has to say about their radio story:
Central Appalachia loses more than 130 acres of forestland everyday, as economic pressures force families to clear their land. Nearly 90 percent of forestland is privately owned and less than 5 percent of that land is under sustainable management. An innovative pilot program called the Appalachian Carbon Partnership is working to reverse this trend. A project of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), in partnership with Appalachian Sustainable Development and Rural Action, ACP supports the practice of good forest management by selling carbon offsets that compensate landowners for the carbon sequestered in their trees each year. WMMT visited the Stickney Family in Estill County, KY, where they are sustainably managing their woodlands, and talked with various folks who support land and landowners by buying Appalachian Forest Offsets.
Listen to the whole radio story here.
