Reforestation of 18,800 Acres Launches State’s Water Quality Trading Program
St. Charles Parish, Louisiana – May 6, 2025 – Restore the Earth Foundation (REF) is proud to announce the first-in-the-state certification of water quality credits by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ). The credits represent improvement in surface water quality generated from our large-scale, native cypress reforestation at Salvador Wildlife Management Area (WMA), just outside of New Orleans, LA which is owned and managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). These credits can be purchased by entities wishing to invest in and be recognized for water quality improvements and provide a market-based avenue for investment in non-point source pollution reduction.
From 2022-2024, Restore the Earth reforested 18,800 acres at Salvador Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in partnership with Eco|Restore, LDWF and St. Charles Parish.
Once the planting was complete, Restore the Earth, working in partnership with EcoMetrics LLC, submitted an application to LDEQ as the first project under the state’s Water Quality Trading Program to demonstrate how critical coastal reforestation projects can improve water quality by trapping sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and promoting soil accretion.
In fall of 2024, LDEQ notified REF of their certification of the credits, resulting in removal of 31,408 pounds of nitrogen and 418 pounds of phosphorus by approximately 1700-acre portion of reforestation site. These credits are annual and are anticipated to increase in amount and value over time as the project and its impact matures.
While the reforestation is the result of REF’s long-standing partnership with LDWF and St. Charles Parish, the generation and certification of these credits eligible for transactions is made possible by LDEQ and their Water Quality Trading Program.
“Water quality trading is an innovative, market-based approach to help achieve local water quality improvements,” said Rachael Mathews, Environmental Sciences Manager at LDEQ. “We listened to regulators, industry and environmental stakeholders and officially launched the Program in 2018. It is now operational and works to facilitate trading among interested and eligible watershed stakeholders. It is very encouraging to work with stewards who are interested in reducing their pollution in the state.”
During the development of the 2014 Louisiana Nutrient Management Strategy, stakeholders, including the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD) and their business members expressed interest in exploring voluntary incentive-based programs and activities such as water quality trading that could provide a cost-effective means for nutrient management.
“At the US BCSD, we believe collaborative, market-based solutions are essential to scaling nature-based projects. This Water Quality Trading milestone not only improves Louisiana’s wetlands but also establishes a replicable model for funding restoration across the Gulf Coast and beyond,” said Claude Griffin, Executive Director of the US BCSD
“We appreciate the ingenuity and effort of Restore the Earth Foundation, LDEQ, and Wildlife and Fisheries for their focus on the Salvador Wildlife Management Area, which is treasured by nature lovers and sportsmen alike,” said St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell. “The successful reforestation of coastal areas of the parish will not only improve native habitats for recreational opportunities, but it will bolster our defenses when storms inevitably come our way.”
“Innovative partnerships like these demonstrate how true collaboration and multi-perspective thinking can take projects as simple as a large-scale tree reforestation and expand the on-the-ground co-benefits generated to meet multiple objectives related to air, water, biodiversity and habitat benefits and value creation,” said Taylor Marshall, Executive Director of Restore the Earth Foundation. “Without the involvement and collaboration of partners like Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), LDEQ, St. Charles Parish, EcoMetrics LLC, the US Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD), and Restore the Earth Foundation, projects at this scale, with a multitude of benefits for the environment, community and local economy would not be possible.”
About Restore the Earth Foundation
Restore the Earth Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. We’ve unlocked the business case for landscape scale restoration and we’re using it to restore 1million acres in the Mississippi River Basin, North America’s Amazon. Our mission is to restore the Earth’s essential forest and wetland ecosystems. We envision the Earth in balance — its original vitality and natural abundance available to all, for generations to come. Since 2008, Restore the Earth has secured over $400 million in private, federal/state funding to reforest over 150,000 acres along the Gulf Coast damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Our strategy and business model were triggered by a natural disaster—one that only a comprehensive and sustained partnership between the public and private sectors could effectively address. For more information visit: https://restoretheearth.org
About Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ)
LDEQ’s mission is to provide service to the people of Louisiana through comprehensive environmental protection in order to promote and protect health, safety, and welfare while considering sound policies that are consistent with statutory mandates. LDEQ is an assertive proponent of a clean and healthy environment, accomplishing its mission through regulatory and non-regulatory means to achieve a balance that sacrifices neither economic growth nor environmental protection. The Department encourages stakeholder and public participation in consideration of environmental issues and is committed to following sound science in assessing environmental issues, adhering to laws and regulations, and to making informed decisions that will benefit all Louisianans. For more information visit: https://www.deq.louisiana.gov. For more information on LDEQ’s Water Quality Trading Program visit: https://www.deq.louisiana.gov/page/water-quality-trading.
About St. Charles Parish
For more information regarding St. Charles Parish. For more information visit: www.stcharlesparish.gov, Cox Channel 6, UVerse Channel 99, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@stcharlesgov).
About United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD)
The US BCSD was founded in 1992 to give leading US businesses a platform to work together to design, implement and scale sustainability solutions. Today, the US BCSD’s cross-sector platforms, projects, and partnerships bring leading companies together to solve circular economy, carbon, energy, water, and equity challenges across North America. The US BCSD is a Global Network partner of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. For more information visit: https://www.usbcsd.org
About EcoMetrics LLC
EcoMetrics LLC provides the expertise to identify, quantify, and monetize benefits from nature-based solutions projects informed by inputs from stakeholders. EcoMetrics is a methodology that captures the Full Value of a project’s environmental, social and economic impacts in a format that is fully documented, verified, and ready for audit. This is a framework and assessment methodology that organizations of all types can apply to a variety of initiatives and projects. EcoMetrics is committed to providing necessary data and metrics to quantify and monetize the benefits of nature-based solutions making the business case to incentivize widespread adoption of these practices. Originally created by Restore the Earth Foundation to document the value created of their restoration efforts, EcoMetrics is now a stand-alone consulting group offering solutions that can be applied to a variety of project and activity types. For more information visit: https://www.ecometricsllc.com