Thompson River

  • The American Carbon Registry (ACR) is a carbon credit registry that reviews carbon credit project documents, issues credits, and aggregates project data. Similarly to CAR, ACR does not act as a verifier of the project itself, but does require third-party verification for registration. ACR also publishes methodologies for a variety of project types. ACR hosts important documents containing information about project design and location. ACR hosts projects that are both part of voluntary and compliance carbon markets.

  • IFM involves enhancing carbon stocks in existing forests through practices like extended rotation periods, reduced-impact logging, and fire management. While IFM can increase carbon sequestration, its impact on biodiversity varies; some practices may benefit certain species by creating more diverse forest structures, while others might negatively affect species adapted to specific forest conditions. In some cases, IFM projects have also resulted in a tradeoff between carbon storage and biodiversity, with projects that highly value carbon sequestration efficacy negatively affecting biodiversity.

  • Monoculture (-) vs. Polyculture(+): Carbon removal through nature-based strategies involves using plants to sequester carbon. The range of plant diversity varies from project to project and has biodiversity implications for the area. Projects that utilize diverse plant species in operations instead of singular species may potentially uplift biodiversity.


    Presence (-) vs. absence (+) of Invasive Species: Specific species selection for nature-based carbon credit projects also has biodiversity implications. While there has not been a clear divide between native and non-native species' effects on biodiversity, presence of invasive species are shown to impact biodiversity negatively.


    Extractive (-) vs. Non-extractive(+): Extractive activities in addition to generation of carbon credits, such as the timber, agricultural, or mining operations pose a threat to biodiversity due to its disruptive nature.

  • While Thompson River's forests are privately owned and managed, their benefits extend beyond monetary profits to the company itself, providing livelihoods for numerous rural communities and offering critical habitats for a wide variety of wildlife, fish, and plant species. In particular, increased grazing on their Columbia Basin Management Area (CBMA) forestlands plays a key role in their forest resiliency strategy and climate goals. Grazing helps reduce dry grass that can fuel wildfires, lowers brush levels, and improves soil water retention, all while benefiting local economies that depend on the health of both the forests and the region’s livestock industry. Additionally, the project continues its voluntary participation in Montana's Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Block Management Program, which offers free public access for fishing and hunting, further contributing to the community and region’s economic and environmental well-being.

  • The project primarily enhances biodiversity through conservation by preventing deforestation and maintaining existing ecosystem functions. The additionality is relatively lower than in active restoration projects, as the primary impact is reducing potential biodiversity loss rather than creating new habitat.

The Green Diamond Thompson River project is an 81,000 acre conservation effort developed by the Green Diamond Resource Company in 2021 focused on preventing development along the Thompson River basin in Northwest Montana. The project aims to reduce GHG emissions using Integrated Forest Management (IFM) techniques to optimize carbon sequestration and saleable offset while maintaining ecosystem function. The techniques include decreased harvest relative to historical and legal harvest levels and retaining existing species composition. The project builds upon ongoing conservation efforts in the broader Thompson River drainage area, which includes the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Project and the Lost Trail Conservation Area. Upon completion, the project will ensure that the Thompson River corridor remains open to the public while fostering continued forest management through responsible timber harvesting, thus balancing environmental protection with sustainable land use practices. In total, the project represents a carbon stock of approximately 2.7 million tCO2e.

Thompson River:

  • Ecosystem Intactness: Measured using the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) BII can be used to quantify changes in ecosystem composition, providing a measure of Species Richness and abundance relative to undisturbed ecosystems.

  • Species Threat Level: Measured using the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STARt). The STARt value indicates how local threat abatement could contribute to avoiding species extinction, and every species in a given region is assigned its own score.

  • Presence of Rare Species: Measured using Rarity-weighted Richness (RWR). RWR differs from traditional Species Richness by highlighting areas that support rare species. Rare species are defined here as those that have small geographic ranges. This makes RWR useful for identifying areas critical for conserving endemic, or geographically restricted, species.

  • Restoration Potential: Measured using the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STARr) metric. The STAR metric incorporates present species threat levels, threats, and restoration opportunities on a regional level. The metric also outputs a STARr value, which quantifies the impact of restoration based on how much habitat is restorable and what proportion of that specific habitat exists worldwide.

  • Human-caused Degradation: Measured using the global Human Modification Index (HMI). The global HMI is a commonly used metric helpful when quantifying the structural integrity of ecosystems and measuring how humans have altered the terrestrial landscape around the world, degrading ecosystems and impacting biodiversity in the process given location.