WFFA seeks conservation district support for carbon project
The Federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO #1) solicits proposals to access funding from two IRA provisions that:
- Support the participation of underserved forest landowners in emerging private markets for climate mitigation or forest resilience (IRA Section 23002, Provision 2).
- Support the participation of forest landowners who own less than 2,500 acres of forest land in emerging private markets for climate mitigation or forest resilience (IRA Section 23002, Provision 3).
The Washington Farm Forestry Association (WFFA), a 501 c(5) non-profit organization serving small forest landowners for over 70 years, plans to submit a proposal aimed at addressing both climate mitigation and forest resilience through the development of activities and market penetration for biochar created from forest residues, non-commercial forest thinning residues, and fire hazard reduction treatments. This proposal builds from the work WFFA and cooperators are doing under Section 21 of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act that established a small forest landowner carbon workgroup (CWG) to “Develop a framework and funding proposals for establishing a program to link interested small forestland owners with incentive-based carbon reducing programs that facilitate adoption of forest practices that increase carbon storage and sequestration in forests and wood products.” and to “Recommend policies to support the implementation of incentives for participation in carbon markets.”
For more information, please review the one-pager produced by the Washington Farm Forestry Association. It explains where WFFA wants to go with this IRA grant that is aimed at connecting small forest landowners to markets and resources that can help them improve their forest management, reduce the potential for carbon release, and help establish viable biochar markets in Washington state. Interested districts can directly contact the WFFA Executive Director, Elaine Oneil, for more information.
One-page outline: IRA 2023 increasing SFLO market access WFFA proposal overview