FCCP publishes article assessing the compatibility between improved management carbon offset projects and preferential property tax programs
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EmailFCCP researchers published an article in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry highlighting opportunities and barriers for forest landowners to dual enroll in preferential property tax programs and improved forest management carbon offset projects.
Former FCCP research assistant Graham Diedrich and former FCCP associate director Dr. Kylie Clay published an article in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry titled “Navigating Dual Enrollment: Assessing Compatibility Between Improved Management Carbon Offset Projects and Preferential Property Tax Programs Across Nine States”. This article assesses compatibility, while highlighting opportunities and barriers, for forest landowners to dual enroll in preferential property tax programs and improved forest management carbon offset projects.
The results of this study indicate relatively high levels of compatibility in the nine states assessed, which include Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. However, none of these states have strategic, long-term approaches to addressing enrollment in both program types, with compatibility generally being contingent upon a case-by-case evaluation of landowner management objectives and program requirements. In many instances, compatibility is determined by county tax officials with varying degrees of input from state governments. This decentralized approach can lead to a confusing operating environment, potentially affecting the opportunities for landowners to participate in both programs. These issues are identified as key barriers to the expansion of market participation among small landowners, who are often interested in retaining their tax benefits provided by tax programs and may be concerned about forfeiting them to participate in an improved forest management project.
This research is a part of the FCCP’s Forest + Climate State Policy Initiative, which received funding and support from the Environmental Defense Fund to collect, categorize, analyze, and track a range of state-level programs and policies that could contribute or detract from forests as a climate solution. These topics and policies include carbon offsetting, climate-smart forestry, and related production, conservation, and land-use planning activities. Other products from the initiative include assessments of forest property tax treatments, state-level wildland-urban interface (WUI) codes, and a theoretical framework for cataloguing and categorizing policies.
