King County Forest Carbon Program

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

King County is growing rapidly, making land conservation and forest protection an unusually urgent effort and requiring a dramatic acceleration of conservation work alongside development. The Forest Carbon Program was developed to incentivize protection and enhanced management of private forestland and to contribute toward acquisition of additional public forestland. It includes an urban program developed under City Forest Credits (CFC), which developed a new protocol for conserving urban forests, and a rural program developed under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a well-established international standard for forest carbon programs. It produces carbon credits by permanently protecting threatened forests and tree canopy in both urban and rural parts of the county that would otherwise have been used for development or intensive timber harvest. Funds generated through the sale of carbon credits will support acquisition of lands that are among the most critical conservation priorities of the region, identified through the collaborative Land Conservation Initiative. In addition to providing climate benefits, protection of these forests provides a range of other benefits, including protecting critical salmon habitat, water quality and air quality benefits, and recreational opportunities. For further information, please contact Kathleen Farley Wolf, Project/Program Manager, at kfarleywolf@kingcounty.gov.