There are two enrollment requirements to participate in this program:

1. Landowners must sign a Green Attributes Agreement with Restore the Earth Foundation (REF). This agreement allows REF to fund and perform the activities required to successfully restore marginal cropland acres to their healthy ecological state, and to track, quantify, verify and transact all the environmental, financial, and social impacts and outcomes generated over the life of the project.

2. Landowners must verify the land has not been forested in the past 10 years.

3. Landowners must submit an RCPP easement application. When filing an application for an RCPP easement, landowners are volunteering to limit future use of the offered land, but they will retain private ownership and will continue to control access to and retain rights for some uses of the land.

• Focused on reforestation of marginal cropland in floodplain areas across Arkansas.

• REF is partnered with NRCS who are uniquely positioned to establish, hold and manage permanent conservation easements.

• REF leverages private with public funding to maximize the number of acres restored and protected.

• Landowners become part of a long-term sustainable conservation funding system with benefits today and in the future.

• Landowners in Arkansas counties with marginal cropland in floodplain areas are eligible to apply.

• Landowners do not have to meet adjusted gross income requirements.

• No 2-year ownership requirement.

• A one-time, upfront easement payment from NRCS, based on the Arkansas Geographic Area Rate Cap which is currently around $3,000 per acre.

• A one-time, upfront per acre payment for potential carbon offsets from REF.

• Land rights for recreation and generating additional revenues, e.g. hunting leases.

• Ability to meet or avoid natural resource regulation, e.g. water quality, groundwater.

• Land is reforested at no cost to the landowner (estimated $3,250 per acre managed and paid for by REF).

• Registering, qualifying, verifying, quantifying, ongoing monitoring and reporting of carbon offsets for the 40–80-year life of the project at no cost to the landowner (estimated value $100 to $2,500 per acre managed and paid for by REF).

• Easements held, managed and monitored by NRCS in perpetuity.

• Ability to participate in potential future ecological markets such as water, soil, and biodiversity.

• The plan you develop with NRCS identifies the activities necessary to restore, enhance, protect, maintain, and manage the easement. You continue to control access to the land – and may lease the land – for hunting, fishing, and other undeveloped recreational activities.

• At any time, you may request that additional activities be evaluated to determine if they are compatible uses for the site.

• Once your eligibility has been determined, NRCS will discuss with you the eligible area and surrounding areas necessary to enroll to restore and sustain the ecosystem.

• The objectives are to reduce greenhouse gases, sequester carbon, improve wildlife habitat, water quality and groundwater recharge, reduce flooding and mitigate disaster damages.

• You can start the application process but cannot continue with an existing contract on land that will be included in the easement.

• Be aware of cost recovery and liquidated damages that may be assessed on your current Farm Bill contract that are outlined in the appendix to your contract.

• At Restore the Earth Foundation, we assume 100% of the costs for carbon offset validation, verification, registration and ongoing monitoring, verifying and reporting over the life of the project, generally 40-to-80 years. In our experience, these costs can range from $100-to-$2,500 per acre depending on the size of the project.

• You receive benefits that would not be possible or economically feasible without the support of Restore the Earth Foundation and its partnership with the NRCS.

• A successful reforestation project will restore land back to its healthy ecological state, and generate environmental benefits, such as improved air and water quality, enhanced soil quality, restored native vegetation, and increased wildlife and biodiversity. These benefits are also known as green attributes.

• In addition to generating green attributes, REF’s reforestation projects also provide social and economic co-benefits such as job creation, community resilience, and recreation.

• At the beginning of a project, REF records the baseline conditions. Following restoration, REF measures and quantifies the different green attributes and co-benefits generated from the restoration. By doing so, over time they determine how much carbon dioxide is being sequestered from the atmosphere as a result of the reforested conditions.  REF also measures improvements in the reforested area including water quality and quantity, soil quality, wildlife species, the re-establishment of wildlife habitat, as well as social and economic impacts in nearby communities.

• Currently, the only green attribute that has an established market value is any activity that reduces carbon emissions or increases carbon storage - like planting trees or restoring land. These actions help balance out carbon emissions happening elsewhere in the atmosphere and are referred to as carbon offsets.

• An established voluntary market for carbon offsets exists because corporations have made commitments to reduce their climate footprint. To do so, most companies have initiatives to reduce carbon emissions within their business operations. For those emissions companies cannot address onsite, they invest in nature-based carbon offset projects, like REForest Arkansas, that generate high quality carbon credits.

• A voluntary carbon offset credit represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent to what was either removed or prevented from entering the atmosphere. A measurable and verified carbon credit can be traded, sold in the marketplace, or retired for voluntary claims. Each carbon credit has a unique serial number, so once the credit is retired, the same credit can never be used again. The carbon credits generated by REForest Arkansas will be assigned to and retired by the funding partner.

• Carbon registries, which are non-profit organizations, set and manage rigorous integrity standards for the voluntary credit market and ultimately issue credits. They also host quantitative methodologies which are publicly reviewed and based on international greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting standards. These methodologies are framework documents that outline the essential parameters to develop a carbon credit project.

• Carbon credits created from these registries abide by these core market principles and should be highly visible when you review a carbon project:

  • Durable – emission reduction or removal will not be emitted within the next 100 years

  • Additional – activity is beyond business as usual and would not happen without the project

  • Verifiable – a third-party organization confirms all claims and calculations are accurate

  • Real – quantification uses rigorous, conservative, well-recognized accounting standards

  • Only counted once – no two parties can simultaneously claim the emission reduction

• To develop a credit, an eligible project, must collect data, produce project documentation, and conduct a continuous monitoring, reporting, and verification cycle (as required under the registry’s methodology). Each project is audited by an accredited independent verifier and undergoes a public comment period to establish full transparency and confirm integrity and accountability. Additionally, key project documents are publicly available on registry websites. REF works with its partner, ClimeCo, to fulfill these rigorous requirements for the life of the project at no cost to the landowner.

• For a deeper understanding of carbon offsets, credits and the carbon market read ClimeCo’s explainer on Transparency in Developing Carbon Credits.

• In addition to sequestering carbon, nature-based restoration projects also provide additional environmental benefits including improved water and soil quality, enhanced groundwater storage, increased biodiversity, and flood and erosion mitigation. These benefits are referred to as Green Attributes.  In the future, ecological markets for these green attributes may develop and may be suitable for green attribute offset transactions. If such markets develop, Restore the Earth Foundation (REF) will manage and cover all the costs associated with establishing these offsets, and a portion of the proceeds, above REF’s costs, will be shared with landowners. REF will use its proceeds, if any result from the sale of the green attributes, to invest in future environmental restoration projects.