The Last Frontier

“The Alaskan environment is fragile and already under so much stress from climate change. It needs intervention, and with the financial assistance from carbon offset sales, small Alaska Native Communities can preserve, protect, and sustainably manage the forest for future of their families, instead of aggressively logging them. The native wildlife is also under threat from climate change and providing a stable and undisturbed habitat in a fragile ecosystem ensures their continued survival and potential for growth and recovery.”

– Sid Yadav, Director of Project Research

Project Type: Avoided Nature Loss

Carbon Standard: American Carbon Registry (ACR)

Vintage: 2019

Additionality: The forest management techniques exceed common practice and the funds from the sale of the carbon offsets enable the Klawock Heenya Corporation (KHC) to reduce the need to harvest timber

Permanence: The long-term arrangement of the project, a thorough risk analysis of reversals, and buffer establishment assures the permanence of the project benefits.

Site Visit:  Site visits not scheduled due to bear danger and remote status

Located in the Southeast Alaska panhandle on the west coast of the Prince of Wales Island, the Klawock Heenya project is located on 8,618 acres of a coastal conifer, western hemlock-Sitka spruce, and western redcedar-hemlock rainforest. Canadian demand for pulpwood from Southeast Alaska spiked, increasing both the prices and the need for aggressive logging practices. Now, operating as a carbon offset project, Klawock Heenya will sequester 664,000 tonnes of emissions over the first 20 years of its 40-year life.

Indigenous Alaskans operate as the majority landowner through the Klawock Heenya Corporation (KHC). Established by the US government in 1971, the organization oversees settled lands and financial claims for Alaskan Native Americans. Owners own company stock, with a goal to develop a sustainable economy that provides opportunities for community members and shareholders alike. KHC takes their role seriously, evident by their statement: “our land, our legacy, our life.”

For the Alaskan Natives who are the indirect owners of the project, the Project provides an income source that replaces aggressive logging and harvesting of trees. Without implementation of the project, the area could resemble an industrial forest.

There is no ongoing or future commercial harvesting intended in this project area. In fact, forest management practices represent a significant improvement in the carbon storage and conservation value than higher return, more aggressive management regimes of industrial private lands in the region. The project ensures long-term sustainable management of the forests, maintenance of forest stocks above the regional baseline, provides significant climate benefits and serves to improve the habitat for Sitka black-tailed deer, black bear, mountain goats, moose, and other local wildlife species.

• Preserves the forest and secures habitat for abundant wildlife found in the area, including one of the largest black bear populations in the world.
• For Alaskan Native shareholders of KHC, it provides an alternative source of income to cutting forests for high-demand pulpwood.
• Provides jobs including monitoring the general health and condition of the forest, road maintenance, ecological studies, boundary marking to reduce risk of reversal by disease, pest invasion, and unauthorized timber removal.

• Fire is always a risk for forests, but the coastal rainforest-style habitat reduces substantially the danger from fire events.
• Pests can kill the trees, but the project team closely monitors this kind of threat.
• COVID-19 impacted project activities in 2020