By Dani Hansen // Program Manager, Upstream Carbon
If you own forestland in North Carolina, you may be hearing more about carbon, climate and conservation. You may also have questions or concerns about what this means for your land and your family.
This post explains how carbon credits work, why forests matter, and what Upstream Carbon (more about us below) offers landowners who want to keep their land forested while earning income from it.
Why Trees Matter for Carbon
As trees grow, they pull carbon dioxide (CO₂) out of the air and store it in their trunks, branches, roots, and surrounding soil.
When forests stay intact:
- Carbon already stored in trees remains locked away
- Trees continue growing, storing more carbon over time
When forests are permanently lost:
- Much of that stored carbon is released back into the air
- The land will store less carbon in the future
While carbon is stored throughout the forest, including in soils, our focus is on trees because they hold large amounts of carbon and are most affected by development.
Why This Matters in North Carolina
The Southern United States is losing forests faster than almost anywhere else in the country, mainly due to development.
By 2060, the South is projected to lose up to 23 million acres of forest, about the size of South Carolina. In North Carolina, the Piedmont region is expected to lose roughly 21 percent of its forest over the next 30 years.
Once forests are developed, they rarely return. Carbon credit programs are one way to keep forests protected and productive.
What Are Carbon Credits?
Carbon credits are certificates that represent one ton of carbon dioxide removed from the air or kept out of it.
Companies buy carbon credits to balance out emissions they cannot avoid, a process known as carbon offsetting. These transactions happen in the voluntary carbon market, where companies choose to participate.
For landowners, carbon credits offer a way to earn income from forestland without selling it. Responsible timber harvests can still be part of the picture.
For forest landowners, one of the most effective ways to create carbon credits is by permanently keeping land forested rather than converting it to development or other uses. When trees remain standing, the carbon they store stays out of the atmosphere, and the forest continues to store additional carbon over time. This climate benefit can be measured and turned into carbon credits.
How Upstream Carbon Helps
Upstream Carbon is a carbon developer. We help landowners turn the carbon value of their forests into income.
We do this by:
- Identifying land at risk of development
- Estimating how much carbon would be lost if forests were permanently removed
- Bundling projects from multiple landowners so the economics work
- Handling the paperwork, insurance, monitoring, and credit sales
Most individual landowners could not sell carbon credits on their own. By working together, we make participation possible.
Our founder, Matt Sanda, is also a forest landowner and started Upstream Carbon in 2023 to help small-acreage landowners participate in carbon markets. We are recruiting landowners for our first pilot projects, meaning early participants would be among the first to earn income through our program.
How We Measure Carbon
We use satellite imagery along with publicly available data to estimate how much carbon is stored on your land and how likely it is to be cleared and developed. Many counties in North Carolina are a good fit for our program. Just as important, though, is whether the program fits your goals.
Understanding the Conservation Easement
A key part of our program is the conservation easement, sometimes called a conservation restriction.
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently limits development on the land. The landowner keeps ownership of the property while committing the forest to long-term stewardship.
Conservation easements are already widely used across North Carolina to protect working farms and forests. As of 2020, more than 300,000 acres in the state are protected this way. Research conducted in North Carolina and elsewhere has also found that conservation easements can increase the value of neighboring properties, helping preserve both land and community character. Examples of conservation easements in North Carolina include Brunswick Forest in Brunswick County and these farms in Henderson County.
For our carbon program, the conservation easement plays an important role. It ensures that the forest remains a forest over time, which is necessary because carbon credits are based on keeping carbon stored in trees for the long term.
Importantly, a conservation easement does not mean giving up use of your land. Landowners can still manage their forest, harvest timber responsibly, hunt, hike, sell the property, and pass it down through their family. If the land is sold, the easement and carbon commitment stay with it, continuing to protect the forest into the future.
Want to Learn More?
We are happy to talk and answer questions, with no pressure or obligation. Reach out to dani@upstreamcarbon.com.