The City has become the first municipality in the nation to contract for the sale of forest carbon offsets. The project will be registered and verified according to the rigorous Climate Action Reserve protocols. The revenue from this sale will be used to decrease logging activities and allow tree stands to reach an older age.

“The City of Arcata is proud to be the first municipal entity in California to sell offsets,” said City of Arcata Mayor Mark Wheetley. “As the smallest city in the state with a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan, our hope is to demonstrate leadership for others to soon follow."

This project supports the City of Arcata approach to forest management and serves as a viable stewardship model whereby sequestering large amounts of carbon also provides critical benefits such as restoring forest biodiversity, improving water quality and enhancing recreational assets within our community. The City anticipates generating a minimum of 40,000 metric tons of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) through this project.