CAROLINA BAYS & COASTAL PLAIN FOREST CONSERVATION

Active Conservation & Sustainable Management Project

Project facts

  • Project code: ACR 1046
  • Project type: Active Conservation & Sustainable Management Project
  • Acres conserved: 17,600
  • Credits: 3.6M in Development
  • Carbon market: Voluntary
  • Methodology: Active Conservation & Sustainable Management on U.S. Forestlands v1.0
  • Standard: ACR v8.0
  • Certified by: American Tree Farm System
  • Insurance mechanism: ACR Buffer Pool

Where The Will To Conserve Beats The Pressure to Convert

Eastern North Carolina is developing rapidly. Every day, landowners across the Carolina Bays & Coastal Plain are approached with serious offers from residential, industrial, agricultural, and energy developers. Each year, more forestland will forever disappear.   Seventeen thousand acres will not.   Working with Green Assets, a group of private landowners chose conservation over conversion, recording a carbon conservation easement to ensure more than 17,000 acres of working forestland will remain in forestry.   Green Assets’ innovative carbon conservation easement has legally binding protections against forest conversion. For credit buyers, that distinction matters.   This is enforceable carbon credit permanence in a region under intense conversion risk.

Carolina Bays: Irreplaceable Natural Infrastructure

The property features hundreds of Carolina Bays – unique geographic landscapes found almost nowhere else in the world. These Bays naturally absorb floodwaters, promote downstream water quality, and support unique plant and wildlife communities, including some of the largest old-growth Bay tree species.   Carolina Bays’ soils are attractive for blueberries and other row crops, and the pace of agriculture conversion will increase due to recent loosening of state and federal wetlands protections.   Once converted, this ecosystem cannot be recreated.

From Maximizing Timber Yields To Maximizing Forest Conservation

These forests once fueled the naval stores economy and later industrial timber production, where short rotations prioritized speed and volume. Carbon finance enabled more long-term thinking.   Green Assets partnered with multiple landowners to maximize resilience, increase carbon storage, and enhance biodiversity through science-driven forest management.   Carbon revenue is reinvested into the land, creating habitat for quail, bear, turkey, ducks, and deer. Many acres have been restored to native longleaf savanna habitat, where the rare, carnivorous Venus flytrap thrives in the sunny understory.   Active forest management allows these critical habitats to flourish, while mitigating wildfire and pest risk.   This is not passive conservation. This is proactive stewardship of natural assets. Led by a team of land management experts from Green Assets, including a Professional Wetlands Scientist.

Satellite imagery of the Carolina Bays and Coastal Plain region highlights the story even more clearly:

an expansive forested landscape under increasing agricultural conversion pressure, shaped by the distinctive geology and ecology that make the Carolina Bays globally unique. This visual perspective underscores both the environmental importance of the project and the urgency of protecting these irreplaceable natural carbon assets.

The Carolina Bays and Coastal Plain project sits at the heart of one of the nation’s most powerful natural carbon sinks.

As shown in the stratification above, this region contains a rare blend of organic, hydric, and pocosin soils—ecosystems uniquely suited to storing vast amounts of carbon below ground.  By maintaining the landscape in sustainable forestry, we ensure that this critical soil‑based carbon reservoir remains intact and continues to grow. Not only do these forests lock away carbon long‑term in the soil, but they also generate continuous natural inputs—such as duff, leaves, seeds, bark, twigs, and limbs—that further enrich carbon storage and strengthen ecosystem resilience.

CAROLINA BAYS: IRREPLACEABLE NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The property features hundreds of Carolina Bays – unique geographic landscapes found almost nowhere else in the world. These Bays naturally absorb floodwaters, promote downstream water quality, and support unique plant and wildlife communities, including some of the largest old-growth Bay tree species.   Carolina Bays’ soils are attractive for blueberries and other row crops, and the pace of agriculture conversion will increase due to recent loosening of state and federal wetlands protections.   Once converted, this ecosystem cannot be recreated.

Wildlife Habitat Conservation

This project is a haven for wildlife species as rapid conversion drastically reduces local habitats. Long-term forest protection and habitat reinvestment create safe refuge for species including quail, black bear, wild turkey, deer, and migratory waterfowl.

Improved Timber Yields

Letting stands mature rather than harvesting on short rotations delivers greater long-term wood yields.

Restoring Native Ecosystems

Preserving these habitats supports pollinators essential to surrounding agricultural and natural systems, while replanting longleaf pines in areas converted to loblolly restores the landscape's native composition.

Enhanced Biodiversity

This project's mosaic of forest types and wetland features, including Carolina Bays, supports diverse plant and wildlife communities.

Higher Quality Wood Products

A carbon conservation easement secures the property and carbon sequestration. Extended harvest rotations allow trees to mature fully, producing higher quality timber.

Water Quality Protection

By preventing forest conversion and maintaining natural filtration systems, the project helps protect water quality throughout the Cape Fear River watershed and the Wilmington area drinking water.

Soil Conservation & Flood Control

Intact forest cover and natural wetland basins stabilize soils while storing stormwater and reducing downstream flood risk.

Support of Local Economies

Sustainable forestry operations and conservation investments generate ongoing revenue and support rural forestry jobs.

Recreation & Scenery

Protecting these working forests preserves the natural landscape character of North Carolina's Coastal Plain.

<p><span style="font-size: 32px">SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS</span></p>

  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3
  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6
  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9
  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13
  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15

A MARKET MILESTONE

The Carolina Bays & Coastal Plain Forest Conservation is the first project registered under ACR’s Active Conservation and Sustainable Management on US Forestlands methodology. It unambiguously demonstrates that private forest landowners can deliver climate impact at institutional scale without lowering standards.
  • Nearly 18,000 acres enrolled
  • Largest active American Tree Farm System property in North Carolina
  • 1.2M carbon tons stored in trees, roots, and limbs
  • 2.0M carbon tons stored in the forest’s soils
  • 2.4M carbon tons will be removed by the forest’s growth
  • 3.1M marketable credits in development

For Credit Buyers:

You are securing high-integrity credits backed by legally enforceable conservation in a region with elevated conversion pressure. Scarcity, permanence, and disciplined management—aligned in one durable asset.

For Landowners:

You can unlock value without selling your property. Protect your land and legacy, generate meaningful long-term income, and strengthen your property for the next generation.

Contact Green Assets