Climate–smart forestry practices including reforestation were highlighted in Executive Order 14008 in recognition of the key role America’s forestry sector plays in mitigating climate change. There is a great need to expand and recover the nation’s forest estate to balance society’s carbon emissions with carbon sequestration. At the same time, North American consumption of wood products has increased by an average of 1.6 billion board feet (BBF) per year since 2010 (Jannke 2022), creating a tension between the demand for wood products and the increasing need for our forests to serve as carbon reservoirs.

The Climate Trust (TCT) is addressing these related pressures through its reforestation program, Traceable Reforestation for America’s Carbon and Timber (TRACT). TCT will deploy funding, planning, and implementation of reforestation and afforestation activities in two geographic areas: the Western U.S. and the Southern U.S, focusing on lands deforested by natural disturbance and lands in need of afforestation.

The working forests created through this program will produce climate–smart timber and other forest products on post–fire or degraded/marginal agriculture lands. The program is designed through a lens of equity and includes funding designated to assist underserved landowners.