Ecotrust Forest Management, Equator, and New
Forests Announce First-of-Its-Kind Forest Carbon
Transaction
Leading Northwest Forest Landowners Poised to Tap New Environmental Market
March 19, 2010 12:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK & PORTLAND, Ore.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Ecotrust Forest Management, Inc.,
Equator, LLC, and New Forests, Inc. today announced a unique carbon transaction under the Climate Action
Reserve’s (CAR) new Forest Project Protocol. Under the terms of the deal, forest carbon generated from Ecotrust
Forest Management’s 3,276-acre Sooes property in the Olympic Peninsula will be purchased by the Eco Products
Fund (EPF), a private equity vehicle co-managed by Equator LLC and New Forests. The project is expected to
generate hundreds of thousands of carbon credits (CRTs) over a 100-year lifespan.
The transaction is unique in that it is the first improved forest management (IFM) project to utilize the CAR
protocol’s national scope. It is the first IFM project to be listed with CAR outside of California and the first in the
Pacific Northwest. Emerging high-quality and comprehensive protocols such as those from CAR and the Voluntary
Carbon Standard (VCS) promise to fuel the rapid growth of carbon transactions throughout the United States.
National carbon protocols are also shaping possible cap-and-trade markets currently under consideration by
Congress.
“Ecotrust Forests and the Eco Products Fund share a strong commitment to developing high-quality forest carbon
and other ecosystem service markets to better align the financial needs of private land managers with society’s
interest in reducing emissions, increasing forest cover, and reducing conversion of forests for other uses,” said
Ecotrust Forest Management CEO Bettina von Hagen. “We hope that our project inspires similar efforts
everywhere.”
“We are extremely pleased to work with Ecotrust Forest Management on this deal,” said Gerrity Lansing, CEO of
Equator, LLC. “Ecotrust Forest Management is on the leadi