Oregon program would pay timber-lot owners for the carbon their trees absorb

Aging America: Oregon program would pay timber-lot owners for the carbon their trees absorb

• Article by: NIGEL DUARA , Associated Press 
• Updated: December 16, 2013 - 10:20 AM

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RAINIER, Ore. — For most of Oregon's history, the forests like the ones near Paul Nys' house were places where a landowner could get wealthy. Cultivated from seed, rows of trees were grown to a healthy middle age and then chopped down, buzzed into lumber at sawmills and shipped out.

Over the years, the retired schoolteacher has had many offers to buy his property, like many other landowners in the state's timber region, from both timber companies and developers. And each time, he would say no thanks.

Now 74, Nys and his wife have an unusual offer: Instead of getting money so someone could chop his trees down, he might get paid to leave them up. It's part of a program to preserve the forest land so that the trees can help absorb greenhouse gases.

And why not, he said. He worries about their health when they can longer care for themselves. The money could be used to help pay for medical bills. For those with fewer than 500 acres, like Nys, the arrangement could net participants more than $1,000 per year.

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