Comment Log Display

Dear Chairperson Nichols:

The Forestland Group, LLC manages over 3.5 million acres of
naturally regenerating hardwood forests in 20 US states and four
countries.  We are the fourth largest private landowner in the
United States, and we were the first TIMO to certify our entire
portfolio under the FSCTM principles and criteria.  We have already
registered the largest offset project listed on the ARB.  We
believe that our forest management objectives are compatible with
the current forestry protocol and are contemplating developing
additional projects.  However, the proposed changes to the forestry
protocol would make it impossible for us to do so. 

While we generally support the proposed Regulatory Review Update,
we are concerned with the following provisions:

1.	New Basil Area Standards and Associated Buffered Areas

	The imposition of this requirement will make it practically
impossible to develop a forestland carbon project which is not
located within California and certain other limited areas of the
Pacific Northwest.  

2.	Modified method for establishing Minimum Baseline Levels (“MBL”)
for IFM projects with Initial Carbons Stocking above Common
Practice

	The proposed new method for determining MBL for IFM projects with
initial carbon stocking above Common Practice will make many
contemplated carbon projects unfeasible.  Landowners will be
reluctant to develop forest carbon projects on their most highly
stocked acreage and will thereby forego the meaningful climate
benefits which would result from preventing aggressive harvesting
on these tracts.

3.	The Common Practice values update for private IFM projects

	Proposed new Common Practice values do not accurately reflect
forest stocking which results from practical “common practice”
forest management because the values fail to account for the
cyclical effects of the timber market on wood product demand and
forest stocks.  

*     *     *

In addition to the concerns outline above, as I relayed in a
meeting to ARB staff last December, we remain concerned with the
current definition of a “Forest Owner” and an Offset Project
Operator.  We strongly believe that these definitions should be
modified to reflect the reality with respect to forest ownership
over the long term.  We typically own our forests for a period of
10 to 15 years, during which time we may develop a carbon project. 
At the end of this investment period, we typically sell the
property, and it may often be sold in several parcels to different
buyers.  If the selling TIMO has placed a carbon project on the
property, it is appropriate for buyers to assume their respective
obligations with respect to the project.  They should not be
expected, however, to become jointly and severally liable for the
failure of an unrelated party to comply with the Protocol in the
future.  

Chapter 3.5.1 of the Protocol also requires that a new owner of
timberlands must agree to take over the forest project
responsibilities and commitments or the project will be terminated
and offsets must be retired in an amount equal to or in excess of
those which have been issued.  This requirement restricts the
ability of a timberland owner to sell land which is included in the
project for at least 100 years.  This has the practical effect of
greatly eliminating the number of forest projects which are
considered.  We believe that forest owners should be allowed to
sell or transfer a portion of a forest project free and clear of
the forest project responsibilities and commitments provided that
the OPO or APD has undertaken additional verification prior to the
sale which updates the project baseline, confirms the amount of
ARBOCs attributable to the portion of the project which is being
sold and withdrawn, and, if the number of ARBOCs exceed a
materiality threshold, then the OPO or APD would be required to
retire a sufficient number of ARBOCs to account for those
attributable to the conveyed property.

We  greatly appreciate the serious thought and effort which the ARB
has devoted to the Regulatory Review Update and hope you will
consider the foregoing comments to further refine the Update so
that it will further incentivize the development of forest
projects.  

Kind Regards,
Kaarsten Turner Dalby
Vice President
The Forestland Group, LLC