By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – Propelled by a change in historic timber cutting practices in the state brought on by the advent of carbon sequestration, a bill that would prohibit state- and county-owned lands from participating in such programs was heard Tuesday before the House Municipal and County Government Committee.

Sponsored by state Rep. Arnold Davis, R-Berlin, House Bill 1205 would prohibit state- and county-owned land from participating in carbon sequestration projects.

The state has about a dozen private tracts of land registered in carbon programs totaling fewer than 200,000 acres and mostly in Coos County. A bill several years ago approved the first state carbon registry in the nation and this helps the public look at the changing landscape.

Timberland owners now have an additional way to make money from their forests which has emerged in the last decade and involves them entering long-term contracts to keep trees growing.

But state and county lands were purchased for traditional logging and recreation and encumbering them in long-term contracts is not what they were purchased for, supporters said.

This is an emerging market where corporations can offset their environmental impact by purchasing carbon credits to not use certain resources, including timber, and there are both regulated and unregulated markets.

The 146,000-acre Connecticut Lake Headwaters Tract at the northern tip of the state has a contract with the California carbon market and is owned by a carbon first company, Aurora Sustainable Lands LLC https://aurorarecreation.com/Homepage.aspx

The state is currently negotiating with Aurora on a 10-year cutting agreement with the previous version rejected by the state for anticipating cutting fewer trees than in the past. The land is subject to an easement paid for by public and private funds more than 20 years ago which calls for both logging and recreation management but it was crafted more than a decade before carbon sequestration was an option.

A deal between State Forest and Lands and Aurora is reportedly close. The state also has a moratorium on new carbon programs while a legislative study committee looks into the matter with a report due in 2027. Rep. Mike Ouellet, R-Colebrook, introduced the legislation for Davis.

He said state and county properties were purchased by the taxpayers for traditional uses including timber cutting and much of the land owned would not qualify like Franconia Notch, because it is protected.

State Rep. Laurel Stavis, D-Lebanon, who is a member of the committee, asked if the timber tax benefits the county. Yes, he said.

But Ouellet said carbon capture was not a purpose for purchase and could be considered contrary to the purpose of the purchase. Ouellet said it would be breaking the public trust to use the land in another way than was the intent of the purchase.

He was asked if it should be enabling legislation for the counties, to allow them to choose, rather than a state mandate.

Rep. Alvin See, R-Loudon, and other towns testified that he supported the bill and suggested it also include prohibitions on city and town owned land. Roberta Cropsey said she came in support of the bill.

As private landowners in Belknap County she said she and her husband have about 100 acres that are managed for wildlife and for wood for a healthy forest including a selected cut every 10 years.

She said they do not manage for old growth like those preferred for carbon sequestration as few animals and plants choose to live in that environment. State and county owned land should not “be managed for maximum carbon and certainly not to offset pollution that New Hampshire did not cause,” Cropsey said.

Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, also came to support the bill. He said he finds the issue of carbon sequestration one of the most critical for the state, which is the second most forested in the country.

Kenney said many of his constituents work in the forest products industry. He said he supports the bill to protect the public trust to make sure these lands are harvested appropriately. He said when there have been issues on this topic there is silence in state laws currently.

He said he supported a potential amendment to cover municipal lands as suggested by State Rep. See.
“We’re a travel and tourism state,” he said “and we all partake in that.”

Testimony during the hearing noted that the study committee is largely focused on private land and taxation issues as it relates to carbon and not about public land usage. Kenney predicted legislators will see carbon sequestration legislation for years to come.

Matt Leahy, public policy director for Society for the Protection of NH Forests, said his organization opposes the bill knowing that these types of programs could be one option to derive revenue.

Jasen Stock, executive director of the NH Timberland Owners Association, said the membership that includes loggers and foresters supports the bill.

He said the organization has done a deep dive and a white paper on carbon sequestration and found that public land “is a different animal.” Stock said the bill addresses more of a philosophical issue related to the public trust.

He noted when one enters into a carbon contract it is a negotiated encumbrance. Adding additional encumbrances on public land after the sale and its intentions is just not appropriate, Stock said.
Online support for the bill on its “blue sheet” shows five were in support, 40 opposed and zero neutral.