NEFF Expands Program to Measure Carbon Benefits of Climate-Smart Forestry

Some benefits of climate-smart forestry practices can be measured immediately, but others can take years, or even decades, to accrue. As a result, New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) plans to use modeling to project future climate impacts from the practices we and our partners will implement through NEFF’s $30 million Climate-Smart Commodities project. As part of the first phase of this modeling, NEFF has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) that’s specific to the Acadian Forest region of northern New England.

NEFF’s Climate-Smart Commodities project has three components: providing incentives for landowners to implement climate-smart forestry practices, building markets for climate-smart wood products, and measuring and verifying overall climate impacts. The projects NEFF is now soliciting fall within this last component, known as MMRV (Measurement, Monitoring, Verification, and Reporting). MMRV is essential to accurately evaluating the Climate-Smart Commodities project’s effectiveness, and to ensuring NEFF makes good investments in practices that return real and substantial benefits for our climate.

Growth and yield modeling is commonly used in forestry to predict the future growth of stands and to understand how different management choices might affect that growth, as well as the amount and quality of wood that could be produced in the future. Computer models use mathematical functions to simulate tree growth and competition based on inputs like initial conditions, which include tree size and species, location, and soil type.

Through the RFP, we are seeking a growth and yield model based on the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) that’s well-calibrated to the forests of the Acadian region and can be used in conjunction with the Forest Carbon Accounting Tool (FCAT) created by our Climate-Smart Commodities partner, Spatial Informatics Group (SIG). We also seek the services of a seasoned modeler with experience in the Acadian region who can work with SIG to integrate the model into the FCAT process and assist with the modeling process, including any further calibration and troubleshooting that may be required.

We invite interested consultants to attend a question-and-answer session with SIG on August 16, 2024, and to submit a proposal by August 23, 2024. To register for the Q&A session and receive updates on this RFP, please email cvear@newenglandforestry.org.

Download the RFP.