Advancing the interpretation and implementation of Climate-Smart Forestry

Last updated: April 2026

The Michigan State University Forest Carbon and Climate Program (MSU FCCP), in partnership with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and American Forests, has been awarded two grants from the USDA Forest Service Forest Landowner Support (FLS) and the Doris Duke Foundation to support “Advancing Climate-Smart Forestry and Carbon Stewardship Practices with Large Landowners in the United States”.

This project will advance a regionally specific decision support process that considers factors like site considerations, climate-induced threats, and adaptation approaches to support resilient and productive forests and the forestry sector. Working across the Lake States and the Pacific Northwest, the FCCP will review regionally specific carbon stewardship practices and strategies that consider trends in carbon, biodiversity, and habitat connectivity. Additionally, the FCCP team will work with SFI partners to advance collective knowledge on Climate Smart Forestry (CSF) Climate Informed Principles (CLIPs). The FCCP will engage in literature synthesis, modeling of scenarios and identification of practices, and establish a monitoring system for the project, and will draft results, presenting findings to SFI Implementation Committees (SICs).

As a part of this project, the SFI is offering a payment-for-practice funding program to advance carbon stewardship activities in the Lake States and Northwest U.S. These grants of up to $300,000 are intended to cover costs to implement climate-smart forestry activities on forests of 300 acres or more, with a minimum land ownership of 50,000 acres.

This project builds off of work conducted in 2024 by the FCCP team to analyze the SFI’s CSF regional workshops and develop a decision support framework for CSF activities.