Innovative partnership expands carbon market efforts on Colorado state trust lands
DENVER, CO – At its September meeting, the Colorado State Land Board approved two major milestones for Colorado’s trust lands and climate resilience: designating Land and Carbon, Inc. as a Qualified Project Developer and authorizing a Grassland Carbon Ecosystem Services Production Lease in Alamosa County (Lease ES 117611).
These actions mark a significant expansion of the State Land Board’s biological carbon sequestration leasing program, which generates revenue for Colorado’s public schools while enhancing soil health, rangeland resilience, and ecological stewardship.
“Carbon is a new frontier for the trust, and this partnership ensures that our lands are part of Colorado’s climate solutions,”
Dr. Nicole J. Rosmarino, Director of the State Land Board.
“This project with Land and Carbon is part of our effort to diversify revenue streams for schools while improving the health of our natural and working lands.”
Under the approved lease, Land and Carbon will revegetate approximately 500 acres of degraded state trust land located about seven miles northwest of Alamosa, known as the Stanley Road property, with native grasses, forbs, and legumes. The project is designed to store soil organic carbon, generate verified credits for the voluntary carbon market, and gradually restore the site to support regenerative grazing.
The Stanley Road property was selected for the project because it represents one of the most degraded parcels in the trust portfolio. The site was historically used for cropland but has since been left barren, with invasive weeds and harsh soil conditions preventing its recovery. The high elevation and arid climate of the San Luis Valley further limit natural revegetation, leaving the land unproductive for grazing or other agricultural uses. Through this project, Land and Carbon will apply science-based restoration practices—including reseeding with perennial grasses and legumes, invasive species removal, application of soil amendments, and careful water management—to transform the property back into functioning grassland while sequestering carbon in the soil and restoring soil health.
Lease and Project Details
Term: 15 years (through 2040), with a 40-year monitoring period to ensure permanence of soil carbon storage.
Carbon Revenue: The Board will receive 10% of gross revenue from the sale of carbon credits, guaranteeing steady returns while Land and Carbon bears the significant upfront costs of site preparation, irrigation, seeding, soil amendments, and long-term monitoring.
Estimated Sequestration: Greater than 10,000 metric tonnes of CO₂ stored in the first 15 years.
Future Uses: The property is expected to support regenerative grazing within 4–8 years, adding another revenue stream and land stewardship tool for the State Land Board.
The Alamosa County lease will demonstrate how native grasslands can sequester carbon at scale, creating verified credits for market exchange while maintaining productive ranching operations. The project is expected to generate measurable climate benefits alongside rural economic opportunities.
“Land and Carbon is honored to be designated as a Qualified Project Developer and to launch the ecosystem services grassland carbon lease restoring former cropland with the State Land Board,”
Dave Lawrence, Founder and CEO, Land and Carbon, Inc.
“Our mission is to restore degraded lands so they can once again support people, agriculture, wildlife, and economies, while also addressing the urgent challenge of climate change and increasing food security."
Bob Lawrence, Chief Carbon, Commercial, Legal, and Land Officer added.
“This project in Alamosa demonstrates how partnerships between public land managers and science-driven carbon developers can create healthier soils, optimize soil carbon sequestration, and generate sustainable long-term revenue, in this instance, for Colorado’s schools. We see this lease as the beginning of a larger effort to scale natural climate solutions across Colorado and beyond."
Land and Carbon’s business model underscores a rancher-first philosophy, a compelling attribute for the State Land Board, which owns 2.8 million acres of land in Colorado, 96 percent of which is leased for agriculture.
By approving both the Qualified Project Developer designation and the lease, the Board reinforced its commitment to innovative, ecosystem-service-based revenues that safeguard trust lands for future generations.
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Contact:
Emily Barbo
Public Information Officer
Colorado State Land Board
emily.barbo@state.co.us
720-854-3330
Catheryn Staveley
Chief Marketing and Information Officer
Land and Carbon, Inc.
press@landandcarbon.com
About the Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners:
The Colorado State Land Board is a constitutionally created agency that manages a $6 billion endowment of assets for the intergenerational benefit of Colorado’s K-12 schoolchildren and public institutions. The agency is the second-largest landowner in Colorado and generates revenue on behalf of beneficiaries by leasing three million surface acres and four million subsurface acres for agriculture, grazing, recreation, commercial real estate, rights-of-way, renewable energy, oil, gas, and solid minerals. The agency is entirely self-funded and receives no tax dollars.
About Land and Carbon:
Land and Carbon is a nature-based project development company that creates transformative value by restoring and regenerating degraded land at scale. The organization’s unique, combinatory and science-driven approach, tailored to the land, optimizes land restoration and delivers high quality, high integrity carbon credits at low cost - while improving soil health, increasing productivity, enhancing biodiversity, water retention, and climate resilience, and boosting the economic value of the land. Land and Carbon is committed to collaborating with landowners, lessees, land stewards, land managers, conservation organizations, and local and tribal communities to create solutions fitting their needs and aspirations. Land and Carbon’s projects deliver results that are sustainable for the long term, generate significant revenue that we share with stakeholders from the sale of carbon credits, and minimize cost of entry to landowners and lessees.
