This is the first piece in a planned series highlighting participating landowners who had planned timber harvests and instead opted not to cut for the next year to enroll in the NCX program. The Natural Capital Exchange was built to offer family forest owners, with properties big and small, anywhere in the contiguous US, an alternative to harvesting their trees to receive payment for the value of their forests beyond timber. Read the next article in this series here.

Danny K. was interested in finding an opportunity to make money without harvesting the timber on his nearly 900 acre property in Mississippi. He manages his land with select cuts and replanting year to year as a source of income and for the health of his mixed hardwood and planted pine forest. Last year, Danny initiated cutting contracts for areas of pine plantation on the property. Danny shared, “I don’t particularly like cutting timber, but it pays off land expenses like taxes and upkeep.”

Danny attended a local forestry seminar where a consultant forester was presenting on NCX and he also spoke with a friend who had enrolled in the NCX program. After hearing positive feedback from both sources, Danny signed up his property and was accepted into the Fall 2022 cycle. 

The NCX model reduced the number of eligible acres on Danny’s property due to its evaluation of the carbon at risk. Additionally, Danny deducted carbon credits that he was eligible to sell to account for the existing cutting contracts, but chose to postpone the clearcut of 35 acres of pine for the coming year. Danny commented, “The pine needs to be harvested sooner than later, but I will hold off cutting this area for a year because of NCX.”

Danny first inherited 40 acres of land from his father and then he and his wife, Marianna, continued to add to it over the years. He imagined the land would be a useful source of income when he retired. They enjoy spending a lot of time in the forest with their family, where their grandchildren love to fish and hunt. 

Danny and Marianna have taught their children about land management so they can carry on the maintenance when the property is passed down. Danny understands the next generation will need to make money to pay for the land and is happy to have found an alternative to cutting timber with the NCX program.

To learn more about whether the NCX program is a good alternative to harvesting timber on your land, read about what makes you eligible to enroll.