GreenTrees is a privately managed forest restoration and carbon sequestration program created to reforest at least one million acres in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (“MAV”), the nation’s largest watershed, covering approximately 25 million acres in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois.

A critical wetland resource, the bottomland hardwood ecosystems of the MAV is one of the most important on the North American continent. Considered North America's rainforest, the MAV is a vital habitat for migratory birds and numerous plant and animal species. Previously encompassing 22 million acres of temperate rainforest, the MAV region now holds only four million acres of unfarmed forestland. In addition, a significant amount of its farmland is considered marginally productive, with the planting of trees potentially the highest and best land use.

The GreenTrees Program is a mechanism to bring carbon finance and conservation together, creating scale to produce multiple conservation, wildlife and ecosystem benefits. As such, the Program is designed to provide landowners the highest combination of financial and conservation value possible from bottomland hardwood afforestation.

“The focus of GreenTrees is to create a win-win for the private landowner, the environment and the economy. It enables private landowners to benefit from helping us establish a verifiable carbon offset market in the United States to address climate change, while also creating conservation and wildlife benefits along with bio-economic development opportunities for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley,” said Carey Crane, founding partner of GreenTrees.

“Enrolling our acres in GreenTrees was easy and given the income opportunities, it made perfect sense,” said Rick and Capri Lowry, GreenTrees participating landowners. “It also feels good to know that reforesting our land will have a positive impact on the environment.”