View original post at Pulse of Conway.
There’s a reason Arkansas is called the Natural State. Just look around. You’ll see the beauty from the Ozarks to the Delta and at every little stoplight and crossroads along the way. Ask any landowner in the state what they want their legacy to be, and their answer will include the future of their land. But owning and maintaining land comes with a price. For small and medium-sized landowners, the options are limited and aggressive timber harvesting alone is often the most accessible solution.
Sometimes the answer is right where you’re standing
Stuart Allen, an Arkansas native and forest landowner, faced this dilemma with his own land. He recalls standing beneath the hardwood forest canopy on his property, wondering how to keep this treasure intact for generations to come. “I knew there had to be another way to monetize this forest other than cutting it down for harvest,” he recalls. So, in 2021 he launched NativState.
Based in Conway, Arkansas, our team of more than 30 experts works with small and medium-sized landowners in Arkansas and surrounding states to turn their land into revenue from forest carbon credits. Our foresters evaluate forestland and create a sustainable management plan that considers the landowner’s goals. Our GIS team and engineers calculate the amount of carbon the forest will sequester over the next 40 years, then create verifiable carbon credits to be purchased by organizations seeking to reduce their carbon footprints. The result? A new revenue stream for landowners who want to conserve their forestland, while contributing to global carbon reduction goals.
Global market, local difference
As requirements for industries to offset carbon emissions become more rigorous and more companies worldwide seek to step up environmental stewardship practices, demand for carbon credits will only become stronger. “Forest carbon programs have been around for a while,” says Allen, “but we are the first company to work exclusively with small landowners in our region. We’re a part of the communities where we do business.” That’s important because each property is unique and so are the solutions we present to landowners. One thing remains the same for every project — we work with third-party verifiers such as the American Carbon Registry to verify and create carbon credits that will be purchased by organizations here and abroad.
The benefits to landowners are straightforward
So far, we’ve served more than 130 landowners and have aggregated over 156,000 acres of forested land from which high-quality carbon credits will be created. In addition to realizing a new revenue source, landowners also:
- Can keep their land and continue to enjoy its recreational usage,
- No longer must rely solely on aggressive timber harvesting for income from their land,
- Receive professional forestry management experience from our team, and
- Increase their land’s value and increase their land’s biodiversity.
All of this, at no cost to the landowner.
If you are a forest landowner and would like a free evaluation of the carbon potential of your land or are interested in learning more about this growing company in Conway, please visit www.nativstate.com.