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Improved forest management in Maine

Maine, United States · $50USD per tonne

This project enhances carbon storage and sequestration by changing forest management practices among small private landowners in Maine.

Small private forest owners collectively store nearly 40% of all the carbon held in United States trees, equal to 20 billion tonnes of CO₂. That’s roughly five years’ worth of total emissions across the nation, or nearly half of annual global emissions.

Historically, small landowners in the United States have been excluded from the voluntary carbon market, with limited opportunities to earn income from forests beyond harvesting. Mechanisms to keep forestland in the hands of small private landowners are important because when forestland is consolidated under large corporate or investment ownership, decisions are driven by financial returns rather than long-term ecological or community stewardship. This can result in more aggressive harvesting practices and less flexible management compared to small privately-owned forests.

Our partner, Renoster, helps landowners shift from short-rotation harvest cycles (pulp and paper) to longer-term harvesting cycles (higher-value, long-lived wood products, like furniture). This defers emissions, increases carbon storage in the landscape, and provides landowners with new revenue streams. Financial incentives to defer harvesting result in healthier, more resilient forests that store more carbon, support biodiversity, and strengthen rural economies.

How does it work?

This project helps small landowners in Maine shift from short-rotation harvest cycles to longer-term forest management that stores and sequesters more carbon. The Apollo protocol provides a rigorous, transparent framework to make this possible. Here’s how it works:

1. Landowners enroll their forests: Each property must show clear proof of ownership, a history of commercial harvesting, and intent to harvest again in the absence of the project. Landowners sign contracts committing to defer harvests for a minimum of 20 years, ensuring the carbon benefits represent a real change in behavior.

2. Harvests are deferred: Instead of harvesting trees on short rotations for pulp and paper, participating landowners transition to longer harvest cycles. These longer rotations allow forests to accumulate more biomass and carbon, while also producing higher-value timber products like beams and flooring in the future.

3. Establishing a scientific baseline: Apollo uses advanced tools— high-resolution LiDAR scans, satellite data, and more than 5,000 regional forest inventory plots to measure the carbon currently stored in each parcel. To ensure credits represent true impact, each property is compared to a “control group” of similar forests across Maine. These dynamic baselines adjust annually, so credits reflect real-world differences, not assumptions.

In this LiDAR point cloud data of a Maine forest, the dark blue points are at ground elevation, while the red points represent the top of the forest canopy.

4. Monitoring forest growth and health: Every year, Apollo measures forest growth and disturbances using remote sensing (satellite imagery, radar, and LiDAR updates). Disturbances such as windthrow, ice storms, or harvesting are factored into the project’s annual performance. This ensures that the carbon outcomes are based on observed forest conditions.

5. Calculating credits conservatively: Carbon credits are issued based on forests growth and how much new carbon stored in the forest each year. To ensure quality, Apollo applies several conservative deductions (reducing the number of carbon credits issued):

• Leakage: Adjusting for any logging displaced to other forests using a global timber model
  • Permanence: Applying tonne-year accounting so credits reflect only the value of carbon stored during the 20-year contract
  • Uncertainty: Deducting for potential error in measurement and modeling
  • Risk buffer & insurance: Setting aside credits in a buffer pool, supported by additional coverage from Kita insurance in case of natural disasters or other reversals

6. Landowners are compensated: Forests are often the main income source for small landowners. By delaying harvests, they face real opportunity costs. Carbon credit finance offsets these costs, making it financially viable to keep trees standing longer. 65% of carbon credit revenue flows directly to the landowners, helping sustain rural economies while rewarding climate-positive management.

Why this project?

In the United States, 39% of the forestland is owned by families and individuals, controlling more forest and woodland than any other group. These small private landowners face growing pressures, from rising costs and unstable timber markets to increasing wildfires, natural disasters, and land conversion. In Maine, over 70% of family forestland owners are concerned about being able to keep their forestland due to taxes. They need other income options beyond selling timber to keep forests, economies, and rural communities healthy.

Bonnie and Peter Collins on their land in Newburgh, ME. They see Apollo as a great solution to pass their land onto the next generation and practice responsible stewardship. Peter sees carbon as an enhancement of the land—helping his family bay the bills and keep the land and trees, while still matching well with sustainable harvesting.

Small private landowners matter for carbon and communities. United States forests currently offset about 12–15% of national greenhouse gas emissions each year. The 9.6 million individuals and families who control 272 million acres of forest in the country are crucial partners for climate change mitigation because these forests store and sequester large amounts of carbon.

Nearly 90% of Maine's forest land is privately owned, and family forest owners control the second-highest percentage of the state’s forests (5.2 million acres, or 29.9%). Historically, these small private landowners have been excluded from carbon programs. A 2022 Forest Science study using the USDA National Woodland Owner Survey found that fewer than 0.1% of small private forest owners in the United States were enrolled in carbon programs as of 2018. The majority of small private landowners, covering nearly 95 million hectares, are entirely unfamiliar with carbon programs. This is likely because most private forest holdings were historically too small to qualify under traditional carbon market programs, making accessibility the key barrier and underscoring the need for new, small-scale models that better fit private woodland ownership.

Red oak with white pine in the distance (Left). Old growth yellow birch, 200+ years old and 34 inches in diameter (Right).

Apollo is also addressing quality issues in Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects by developing a new methodology with Isometric, a leading science-backed carbon registry. This methodology sets strict eligibility rules (excluding high tree density forests or conserved stands), requires verified harvest history and intent, leverages dynamic matched-control baselines, utilizes transparent, open-source monitoring, reporting, and verification data (LiDAR, F orest Inventory Analysis, forest change detection), and takes conservative deductions for leakage, uncertainty, permanence, and risk.

Overall, we like this project because it acknowledges the real economics of forest management, builds healthier, more resilient forests, directs meaningful income (65% or higher) to rural landowners, and supports the rich ecology unique to Maine’s forested landscapes.

Press mentions

Carbon Herald | Isometric Starts Public Consultation On New Protocol For Improved Forest Management

INTERVIEW: Renoster pivots from ratings agency to carbon removal project developer

Project updates

Feb2026

Helping 37 small landowners turn 20,000 acres into climate impact

The Wren team spent a day exploring the woods of one of the pilot forests, discussing forest management strategies, and seeing long-term stewardship in action....

Read update →

Feb

2026

Jan2026

What our projects are working toward in 2026

Looking to the new year, Wren subscribers will help scale climate solutions, advocate for smart policy, and protect nature-based projects that deliver real, measurable impact....

Read update →

Jan

2026

Where is the project located?

This project spans 37 privately owned parcels in Maine, covering 20,000 acres. These forests include balsam fir, sugar maple, red spruce, hemlock, cedar, and white pine and provide habitat for species such as white-tailed deer, black-capped chickadees, and the regionally rare Bicknell’s thrush. Maine’s forests are unusually diverse for their latitude, with over 35 native tree species and 100+ bird and mammal species, making them ecologically significant as well as climate-critical.

Maine is home to just 1.36 million people, with about 10% living below the poverty line and a median household income of roughly $72,000. Forestry is key to the state’s rural economy, contributing $8–10 billion annually and supporting tens of thousands of jobs, one of the highest concentrations of forest sector employment in the country. Forests and forest products in Maine offset roughly 60–75% of the state’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. For many communities, especially in northern and rural Maine, healthy forests are not only vital for climate and biodiversity but also for sustaining local livelihoods.

White pine regenerating post harvest (left). Northern Saw-whet Owl (right).

Who is behind this project?

Our project partner, Renoster, developed Apollo as its forest carbon program after shifting focus from carbon credit ratings agency to carbon removal supplier. Their team has deep expertise in assessing forest carbon quality and provided extensive feedback on this protocol specifically to set a new standard for United States Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects. The Apollo team includes forest economics and policy experts, remote sensing scientists, and forest carbon specialists with decades of experience in the voluntary carbon market and forest management.

How is the money spent?

Receipts and documents

We keep a public record of all payment receipts we've received from our project partners. You can browse the receipt ledger here.

65% of funding goes directly to the landowner to help them overcome the opportunity costs of deferring harvesting. 35% of funding goes to Renoster, who manages the landowners and the monitoring, reporting, and verification of carbon credits. This also covers purchasing insurance from Kita, so if the forest burns down or is cut for some reason, Wren can replace the credits lost with similar credits, ensuring our users achieve the impact we promise.

How did we vet this project?

Wren vetted Apollo through a six-month due diligence process, applying our proprietary scorecard of more than 230 indicators to evaluate project quality across additionality, permanence, leakage, biodiversity, and social impact. Our review confirmed that the IFM methodology used by Apollo is among the most conservative and technically robust in the market, designed to avoid the pitfalls of other Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects. We were particularly impressed by Apollo’s reliance on dynamic baselining, integration of advanced remote sensing, and transparent carbon accounting. These features give us confidence that Apollo represents a new standard for integrity in U.S. forest carbon projects.

Apollo’s approach stands out for its rigor and transparency, raising the bar in a sector often criticized for weak baselines and questionable additionality. Unlike many protocols relying on static baselines, Apollo uses dynamic, matched-control comparisons to ensure credits reflect real-world forest performance. The methodology tackles a critical blind spot in IFM by using the Global Timber Model to account for market leakage, recognizing that reduced harvest in one region can shift timber demand elsewhere. Conservative deductions for uncertainty and permanence, along with a buffer pool supported by third-party insurance from Kita, add additional safeguards. Apollo makes all monitoring, reporting, and verification data publicly accessible, relying on LiDAR, satellite imagery, FIA plots, and disturbance maps for transparency and accountability.

Verification

This project will be verified against a new Isometric protocol, currently under public comment. Credits will be issued to Wren in 2026. Once credits are issued by Isometric, all data will be publicly available on both the Isometric platform and on Apollo.

✅ Carbon credit insured

Wren partners with Kita, a Lloyd’s Coverholder, to protect subscribers' carbon credit pre-purchases and ensure the promised impact of this project.