The Climate Trust’s Reforestation Program

Join the Oregon Conservation Partnership and The Climate Trust (TCT) to explore how carbon funding can assist land trusts, watershed councils, and soil and water conservation districts in meeting various conservation goals. This session will focus on reforestation and afforestation efforts, which offer one of the largest opportunities to sequester carbon while also building climate resilience for communities and ecosystems. We will explore where carbon funding can be supportive of conservation goals and where it may not be best fit, with examples from TCT’s reforestation program including post-wildfire reforestation, and afforestation on degraded or marginal agricultural land. 

TCT is an experienced, non-profit carbon offset project developer and funder. Since we were founded as the first offset fund in the nation in 1997, we have been pioneering carbon market solutions that benefit grasslands and forests. Working alongside landowners, we help identify their land management and conservation goals to determine how carbon projects can best support them and their land. From there, we provide upfront funding and direct management to develop a carbon project that works for them and creates an additional revenue stream through carbon offset sales. Our efforts are focused on supporting important grassland ecosystems and the ranches that depend on them, restoring the nation’s forestlands, and advancing excellent forest management.  

Victoria Lockhart leads TCT’s Reforestation Program, managing implementation of reforestation and afforestation projects with support from USDA Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program. Victoria brings over 15 years of forest management and investment experience. Victoria holds a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from UVA. Victoria is a Registered Forester in Alabama, and a fellow of the National Conservation Leadership Institute.