Methodologies

CFC’s 40-Year Tree Preservation Protocol is an “avoided conversion” methodology. It generates carbon credits when forests that genuinely face development pressure are preserved instead of cleared. The methodology uses a project-specific approach: credits are based on what would actually have happened on your specific parcel if it were developed, not on regional averages or assumptions.

Once your land is committed to preservation through a legal agreement (an easement, covenant, deed restriction, or similar mechanism) and the project has been third-party verified, credits are issued. Timing depends on parcel size: projects of 50 acres or less receive their full credit allocation up front, 50–200 acre projects receive an initial 50-acre-equivalent issuance with the remainder on annual anniversaries, and projects above 200 acres issue in equal amounts over five years.

For your land to qualify, the methodology has to demonstrate additionality: the principle that carbon credits should only reward preservation that wouldn’t otherwise happen. This means your land has to meet two requirements: location and demonstrated development risk.

Location. Your property must be within or along the boundary of a US urban area. That means a Census Bureau Urban Area or Urban Cluster, an incorporated city or town, an unincorporated city or urban area created under state law, or a regional metropolitan planning agency boundary.

Development risk. Your land must pass at least one of three tests showing real development pressure:

• Perimeter test: at least 30% of your property’s perimeter is surrounded by non-forest, developed, or improved uses (residential, commercial, agricultural, or industrial).
• Land value test: your property has been sold, conveyed, or assessed within three years at greater than $8,000 per acre for bare land.
• Highest-and-best-use test: your land would be worth more developed than preserved.

Your land also must not have been previously protected (no existing easement, encumbrance, or protective zoning), and current zoning must allow non-forest use.

This is where CFC particularly stands out for landowners. The protocol quantifies a full bundle of co-benefits your forest provides to its surrounding community, drawing on i-Tree datasets developed by the US Forest Service across 16 US climate zones and 171 tree species:

• Stormwater retention (gallons of rainfall intercepted)
• Air quality improvement
• Heat island mitigation (temperature reduction)
• Energy savings in nearby buildings
• Equity impact in low-canopy neighborhoods

These aren’t vague claims. They’re calculated using peer-reviewed methods backed by 14 years of Forest Service research analyzing more than 14,000 trees. Practically, this means your forest’s specific contributions to its neighborhood get documented and quantified.

The legal protection that keeps your forest standing is a recorded encumbrance on your property. This can take several forms: a conservation easement, a covenant, a deed restriction, or a similar legally binding mechanism. Whichever form is used, the encumbrance runs for at least 40 years, applies to all current and future owners of the property, and survives any subsequent sale.

This means the preservation commitment is built into the property’s legal record. If you ever sell the land, the next owner inherits the same commitment. The forest stays protected regardless of who owns it.

ACR ACSM is an avoided-conversion carbon methodology used for keeping non-federal US forestland standing in places where those forests would otherwise be cleared for development, agriculture, or mining. Three Oaks Carbon uses ACR ACSM specifically for the protection of urban-edge and suburban forests at real risk of conversion.

Unlike single-property methodologies, ACR ACSM is built to aggregate multiple properties in a metro area into one larger project. Your property gets bundled with others in your region, and the larger project, once developed and verified, generates credits across a 40-year crediting period. The aggregation is what makes the methodology work economically for landowners who couldn’t carry the costs of a standalone project on their own.

ACR ACSM applies to non-federally owned U.S. forestland. Your land must be legally convertible to development, agriculture, or mining, meaning the trees genuinely could be removed under existing zoning.

The key qualifying test is the additionality appraisal: a qualified independent appraiser must establish what your land would be worth at its highest and best development use, and demonstrate that this value exceeds the land’s worth as forest by at least 50%. In plain terms: your property must be worth at least 50% more developed than preserved.

A few additional rules: forestland that was converted from native species to non-native species within ten years of the project start date is ineligible, and the planting of or active management for non-native species during the project is prohibited.

Aggregation is the structural backbone of how ACR ACSM works. Here’s what it means from a landowner’s perspective.

Your property remains your property. You retain full ownership, and your preservation commitment applies only to your land. The aggregation works at the project level: your forest joins other forests in your region under a single carbon project structure. The development costs of an ACR ACSM project (appraisal, forest inventory, verification, registry administration) are substantial. Spreading those costs across more credit-generating land creates a more economically efficient project, and more of the credit revenue can flow back to participating landowners.

Within the project, your land’s contribution is tracked separately. Your credits, payments, and easement are tied to your specific property and its specific carbon value. Other landowners in the project make their own equivalent commitments for their own properties. Nothing is pooled or shared except the project infrastructure.

Every ACR ACSM project requires a legally binding conservation commitment that runs for at least 40 years. This takes one of two forms: a conservation easement granted to a qualified nonprofit organization (typically a 501(c)(3) land trust), or a direct transfer of surface rights to a land trust or conservation organization.

In practical terms, this means the preservation commitment is anchored in the property’s legal record. If you ever sell the land, the next owner inherits the same commitment. The forest stays protected regardless of who owns it. These are real legal commitments, not voluntary pledges.