This commentary is by Jessica Bakowski, the northeast regional forester for Chestnut Forest Carbon Works.  As a professional forester living and working in northern Vermont, I’ve spent more than a decade helping landowners navigate the opportunities and challenges of long-term forest stewards hip. Across New England, one question comes up repeatedly: How do we keep forests healthy and ensure they stay in the family for generations? In Vermont, forests are more than a scenic backdrop. They support the state’s maple industry, protect clean water, provide wildlife habitat and fuel recreation and tourism economies central to many rural communities. Approximately 80% of Vermont’s forests are privately owned, placing landowners at the forefront of conservation and management. Yet these forests face growing pressures. Rising land values, parcelization, second-home development and the complexities of transferring land to the next generation can make long-term ownership increasingly difficult. For many families, the challenge is compounded by the loss of regional mills and other market pressures that have reduced traditional revenue streams from working forests. As large forest tracts are divided into smaller parcels, keeping forests intact and actively managed becomes more challenging. While there is no single solution, improved forest management carbon projects are emerging as a practical and complementary economic tool that can help landowners generate income while supporting long-term forest stewardship. Climate-smart forestry is not a new concept in Vermont. For generations, landowners and foresters have managed northern hardwood forests with a long-term perspective, maintaining healthy sugar maple stands, protecting high-quality trees and promoting species diversity. What is new is that carbon markets can now compensate landowners for many of these same practices.   READ MORE When landowners enroll in a carbon project, they commit to managing their forest in ways that increase their trees’ ability to store carbon through natural processes. In practice, this often means extending harvest rotations, retaining larger trees, maintaining healthy stocking levels and encouraging forest conditions that support productivity and resilience. Carbon projects also evaluate surrounding enrolled lands and regional harvest pressures to establish a baseline of likely forest management, helping quantify the additional climate benefits generated through these long-term commitments. In Vermont’s northern hardwood forests, spruce-fir and mixed hardwood stands, these practices can deliver measurable climate benefits while supporting forest health. For many landowners, carbon projects provide an opportunity to be rewarded for conservation-focused management approaches that already reflect a working forest landscape.  Owning forestland is rewarding, but it is not inexpensive. Property taxes, road maintenance, invasive species management and habitat improvements all require ongoing investment. At the same time, markets for lower-grade wood and pulpwood have become less predictable as mills have consolidated or closed across parts of the Northeast. Carbon project income can help offset ownership costs and provide greater flexibility when making management decisions. It can also help families navigate succession planning challenges that might otherwise lead to subdivision or sale. For many Vermont forest owners, this additional source of revenue may help keep forests intact, reducing pressure to fragment land while supporting local ownership and active management. Vermont’s forests are already experiencing the effects of changing conditions, including more intense storms, invasive pests such as emerald ash borer and hemlock woolly adelgid, and emerging threats like beech leaf disease. Practices commonly supported through carbon projects, including longer harvest rotations, retention of larger trees and maintenance of species diversity, can help forests better withstand these challenges. Forests with a diversity of ages and species are generally better able to recover from disturbance and continue providing ecological and economic benefits over time. One lesson I’ve learned throughout my career is that conservation works best when stewardship and economics support one another. While carbon projects are not the right fit for every property, they offer many Vermont landowners a practical way to align long-term forest management with financial sustainability. By supporting forest health, strengthening resilience and helping families keep land intact across generations, carbon projects can play an important role in ensuring Vermont’s working forests remain healthy, productive and locally owned for decades to come. Read the story on VTDigger here: Carbon credits are a lifeline for Vermont’s working forests. ...read more read less