Kootznoowoo Native Community Forestry Project

The Kootznoowoo Project protects 20,159 acres across four areas of forest on the Dolomi and Dora Bay tracts of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. 8,000 acres of the project include rare, old-growth forest. The project is owned by the native Haida and Tlingit people and managed in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. The carbon revenue supports the native population of about 500 living in the village of Andoon through job and scholarship opportunities. There is good evidence, based on both past practice in the project areas and current practice in surrounding areas, that the project area would be at significant risk of logging absent the project as a means to support the livelihoods of the native project owners. The project is an improved forestry management project, with carbon credits allocated by formula to avoided emissions from logging and to carbon removals from additional tree growth. The credits retired through CNaught represent carbon removal.

Nature-based projects like this one face some risk of reversal. During the life of the project, carbon storage may be affected by flood, fire, or logging. After the project’s end date, land use changes may also reduce carbon storage.