Our Carbon Offset Program

The Southern Plains Land Trust’s network of shortgrass prairie preserves protect not only biodiversity, they can help you offset your carbon footprint by protecting grasslands that sequester carbon to protect the Earth’s climate.

The prairie is the inverse of the rainforest – most of the biomass in rainforests is above-ground in lush vegetation and tall trees, while most of the biomass in the prairie is below-ground, in the native grasses’ thick roots that stretch many feet deep and form dense mats. Less vulnerable to impacts from drought and fire, the prairie’s underground carbon sink makes grassland preservation a stable and long-term approach to addressing climate change.

SPLT has enrolled our two largest preserves, Raven’s Nest Nature Preserve and Heartland Ranch, under the Climate Action Reserve’s Grassland Protocol. These properties sequester over 15,000 metric tonnes of carbon annually. Sale of these carbon credits creates the ultimate feedback loop: carbon sales generate revenue for SPLT to protect more grasslands, which sequester more carbon and provide refuges for more wildlife. This is exemplified by SPLT’s partnership with NativeEnergy. A forward sale of carbon credits on the Medford Spring Grassland Conservation area enabled SPLT to add this area to Heartland Ranch, increasing the property from 18,000 to 25,000 acres.

SPLT is currently working to expand Heartland Ranch by another 18,000 acres, to reach 43,000 acres. We are looking for partners to purchase carbon credits to enable this exciting grassland acquisition.

Among the wildlife beneficiaries is the US National Mammal: the American bison, which SPLT has reintroduced to the Heartland Ranch preserve. Your participation in SPLT’s carbon program, helps the climate, as well as bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and other uniquely North American species native to the Great Plains.