Natural resources division explores carbon-credit program; staff to gather details before board action

Shane Foley of Beltrami County Natural Resources presented a voluntary carbon-credit marketing opportunity for county forest lands and asked the board for direction to begin developing a contract with a credit developer.

Foley described voluntary carbon markets as a 40-year commitment (a developer works with the county for the first 20 years to develop credits and the county monitors for the subsequent 20 years). He said the county’s mix of low-productivity parcels, riparian and lake-adjacent land and long-rotation hardwoods could fit program requirements and that credits may diversify revenue beyond timber sales.

Foley listed risks including market volatility, changes in social demand, timber-market disruptions (tariffs), large-scale disasters such as wildfire, and constraints on future land transactions due to long-term commitments. He said mitigation options include enrolling subsets of parcels and working with neighboring counties or different land-title pools (fee title versus tax-forfeited) but that some risk diversification is technically limited.

Foley estimated it takes 18–24 months before the first credits could be issued and revenue received; developers typically work with the landowner for about 20 years then monitoring continues. He said several Wisconsin counties and some Minnesota private landholders have entered such programs but no Minnesota county had enrolled at the time of his presentation. Foley recommended moving forward to develop a contract with a developer to get early-market access.

Commissioner Carlson asked for more time and revenue estimates; Foley said initial revenues could be “millions” but offered no detailed figures in the work session. Commissioners agreed staff could gather additional information and return with a fuller briefing as long as no binding commitments or county costs would be incurred without board approval.